Looking for something to watch this week?
If you tune in to Jeopardy! Thursday evening, you’ll be able to catch Rose-Hulman professor and Owen County resident Julia Williams compete in the game show’s inaugural “Professor’s Tournament.”
Williams is one of 15 professors selected to participate in the contest, which has a $100,000 grand prize.
“The thing that was most surprising to me was the pace,” she said. “It just goes by very fast, so it's both exhilarating and it's terrifying.”
Williams has taught English at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute since 1992. When she gets home most nights, she watches Jeopardy! with her husband.
“He is the guy who plays every night. He's got the spreadsheet, (he’s) answering questions,” Williams said. “I will not do that as often as he will.”
Still, she’s an avid watcher and has tried out to be on the show a handful of times the past decade. She had never heard back – until this past September.
“I was very surprised, and somewhat terrified,” she said. “It's like, ‘Oh, no, now I've really done it! Now they're gonna have me come out to California.’”
The next month, Williams was on a plane to Culver City to tape the show.
Jeopardy! contestants are sworn to secrecy when they tape – nobody could know she’d be on the show except her husband. She told her students she had a “meeting in California.”
“It was really fun,” Williams said. “I was glad I did it.”
The Jeopardy! Professor’s Tournament begins this evening and runs through Friday, Dec. 17.
Williams’ episode will air at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Viewers in the Bloomington area will be able to watch on NBC affiliate WTHR.
