![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Presloid-and-Trebek.jpg\")
<\/a>UT alumnus and employee John Presloid, right, posed for a photo with Alex Trebek during an appearance on \u201cJeopardy!\u201d<\/p><\/div>\u201cIt felt like an accomplishment just being there, just being on the stage,\u201d said Presloid, who works in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in UT\u2019s College of Medicine and Life Sciences. \u201cI watched the show every day growing up. My first audition was actually like a week after my 18th birthday. Pretty much as soon as I turned 18, I\u2019ve been applying nonstop.\u201d<\/p>\n
He finally broke through in October after his fourth in-person audition, earning the right to fly to Culver City, Calif., meet longtime host Alex Trebek, and go head to head with two other trivia superstars. <\/p>\n
The questions he answered and where he placed is a closely guarded secret \u2014 you\u2019ll need to tune in to find out \u2014 but Presloid said the overall experience was even better than what he had expected. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be very serious and I\u2019d be really nervous. But I just had a blast the entire time,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things they tell you is they want a poker face; they want you to look serious and not give anything away.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the handlers kind of jokingly wagged her finger at me for smiling, but she was like, \u2018Question right, question wrong \u2014 you\u2019re always smiling or laughing. That is your poker face.\u2019 It was just so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presloid earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in pharmacology from UT in 2004 and a master of science degree in biomedicine in 2008. He\u2019s spent the last four years working in the lab of Dr. Mark Wooten, UT professor of medical microbiology and immunology, who studies Lyme disease and melioidosis, a bacterial infection common in tropical climates.<\/p>\n
He was actually working in the lab when a colleague knocked and said he had a phone call from a \u201cJeopardy!\u201d producer. <\/p>\n
A dedicated reader who naturally soaks up information, Presloid said he felt well-prepared, though he did brush up on some fine arts topics such as classical composers and opera. <\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to cram a little bit, but I didn\u2019t want to drive myself crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cI kind of balanced between feeling comfortable but not losing sleep over it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presloid likened being on \u201cJeopardy!\u201d to playing sports. There were a few anxious jitters at the start, but once you\u2019re involved in the game, you sort of fall into the zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes by really fast. I\u2019m actually kind of excited to see it on TV because there\u2019s so much I don\u2019t remember,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the contestants were hanging out all day and most of them were really, really cool. You expect some people might be too competitive or off-putting, but I think everyone had the same goals and the same dream, and everyone is just so excited to be there. It was just unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Toledo, the episode featuring Presloid will air at 7:30 p.m. on WTOL-TV Channel 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Watch UT alumnus and employee John Presloid on \u201cJeopardy!\u201d Wednesday, Jan. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":849,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,5,38,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52978"}],"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\/849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52978"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53052,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52978\/revisions\/53052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}