Jeopardy! contestant Kristen VanBlargan shared two lengthy blog posts about her time on the game show. She detailed the drama it took to get there and how she panicked when she was on stage.
VanBlargan, from New York, New York, played against James Corson from Frederick, Maryland, and Brian Nieves from Gambrills, Maryland, on Wednesday, March 12. Although she ended in second with $18,801, VanBlargan shared that she’d do it all again.
On her personal blog, VanBlogging, the contestant detailed booking a ticket to California on January 6 for her January 27 taping. The California wildfires broke out shortly after that, and she didn’t know if she would get a chance to be on the show, but production carried on.
On January 22, she touched down in Los Angeles, despite the fires still burning. She went sightseeing and hung out with her boyfriend’s friend, all while studying and practicing her buzzer technique.
When VanBlargan arrived at the studio, she brought everything she needed for her wardrobe and hair/makeup. She saw some familiar faces there — Harvey Silikovitz and Nieves — and hoped she wouldn’t face off against them. VanBlargan missed facing off against eight-day champion Laura Faddah by only a few games.
There was only one other person left at her table by the time lunch rolled around. She finally made it to the stage, and her nerves kicked in.
“I chugged coffee and tried to calm my nerves as the crew led us to the set. The stylists touched up my lipstick, rolled a lint remover along my blazer, and pulled my hair back from my face. I climbed onto the riser behind the lectern (adjusted for my diminutive stature) and pasted on a smile as the cameras rolled. By the time they announced Kristen VanBlargan, a writer from Brooklyn, New York, my cheek muscles ached from smiling,” VanBlargan shared.
In her second post, VanBlargan said that she panicked a lot during the taping. She got the first Daily Double correct, but then her mind blanked on the $1,000 question in “Movie Title Characters.”
“The mistake rattled me. At home, I would have nailed the next two clues, but on stage, I didn’t even hear Ken [Jennings] read them. I composed myself in time for a clue about an English pirate. I was about to ring in with Blackbeard,” she wrote.
And the contestant should have because she would have been right. She also second-guessed herself a lot, causing her to not buzz in on answers she knew. “I continued to beat myself up for fumbling my early lead,” VanBlargan wrote.
VanBlargan grounded herself during the second commercial break and saw her boyfriend in the audience, who waved at her proudly. Then, VanBlargan got a rule reversal, which put her total to $1,200 and gave her more confidence. She moved to first place, but Nieves went all in on the last DD, taking the lead shortly after.
By Final Jeopardy, she was only $4,000 behind Nieves and had a chance to win, but she panicked. After seeing the clue, “In an 1833 story by her, an alchemist’s assistant drinks a potion giving eternal life but ends up seeing all he loves die,” VanBlargan second-guessed herself again.
“For a moment, I panicked. I didn’t know this short story. But then I saw the date: 1833. It had to be Mary Shelley. I jotted down my response and hoped for the best,” she wrote.
She was right, but even her $4,801 bet didn’t matter because all three contestants knew the answer, keeping her in second place.
“So, to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this series: was all of this worth it? The study sessions, the online leagues, the buzzer drills, the creepy DMs I received after my episodes aired?” VanBlargan wrote. “I wish I had more time on stage to share wild stories, to don mustard-yellow Chanel pantsuits, to make a thrilling all-in wager. But I went for it, and I’ll go for it again.”
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