![\"Alex](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Jeopardy-july-2015.jpg\")
<\/a>Alex Trebek and Dr. Erin Saelzler posed for a photo on the set of the game show.<\/p><\/div>There are many ways to prepare for one of America\u2019s favorite quiz shows, but Saelzler said her 2012 doctor of pharmacy degree from UT played a large role in getting on the popular game show and ready to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing through pharmaceutical school helped me with the science questions as did my elective classes,\u201d Saelzler said. <\/p>\n
While the 31-year-old Toledo resident placed third on her July 23rd appearance, her misspelling of Brigham Young University in the final round caused a stir on social media. Fans of the show wanted the answer to count, but \u201cJeopardy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually thought I had spelled it correctly because that is the way I had always pronounced it,\u201d Saelzler said. \u201cAlex Trebek gave it to me, but the judges came in and overruled him. We had to reshoot that part of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was still fun,\u201d she said. \u201cI know that it isn\u2019t the first time that something like that has happened with a spelling mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saelzler remembers watching the show with her parents in their Oregon home when she was a teenager. Sometimes they would go over to her grandparents\u2019 house to watch it. She yelled out as many answers as the adults, if not more, she said. <\/p>\n
In January 2013, she took the online Jeopardy test, which led to a live audition in Detroit in July that year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took another written test, and then the contestant coordinator interviews you and pairs you up with people to have mock games,\u201d Saelzler said. \u201cI felt pretty confident, tempered by the fact that the contestant pool was a couple thousand and they only choose a couple hundred contestants per season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saelzler didn\u2019t think she had made the cut after the 18-month window for a decision had elapsed. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then they called me six weeks before they wanted me on the show,\u201d she said. \u201cI was so surprised because I had heard stories of people auditioning five times before they got on the show. I was preparing to audition again before they called me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saelzler flew out to Los Angeles in April to tape. Contestants are required to pay for their flight and hotel, but it works out, she said, because the third-place contestant still takes home $1,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is kind of a surreal thing to be on the show,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is one thing to watch it at home and say, \u2018It would be neat to be on the show,\u2019 but it is a whole other experience to be giving Alex Trebek your answers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Erin Saelzler, who graduated from UT in 2012, was one of the next contestants on \u201cJeopardy!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,5,1,42,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/789"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34993"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35035,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34993\/revisions\/35035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}