As a freelance journalist with a passion for women’s sports, Nicole Haase is no rookie when it comes to writing about games.
But, recently, she was on the other side of it, competing in one herself.
The game? “Jeopardy!”
Turns out, Haase has something extra to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. That’s when the West Allis resident is scheduled to make her debut on the game show. The Journal Sentinel has asked the show what time the episode will air locally, given the holiday.
Haase and her husband, Andy, DVR “Jeopardy!” and watch it together while eating dinner just about every night, she told the JS. The two — who were part of the same friend group at Nicolet High School — have been married 11 years.
Almost every episode, Haase said, she gets a question right that she didn’t even know she knew the answer to.
“Clearly, there’s very useless things stuck in my brain,” she said, laughing. “I sometimes joke, like what could I know if I didn’t know some of this stuff?”
Haase has a “wide array of interests,” she said, with her specialties being sports and food. With her mechanical engineer other-half having opposite interests from hers, she’s learned things because of him involving science and space, she said.
“We joke that we would kill it on couples ‘Jeopardy!’ ’cause we’d cover so much ground,” Haase said.
While Haase loves “Jeopardy!,” she never paid much mind to actually trying to get on the show. It was more of “a passing fancy.”
But, as Haase was working late one night in July with her TV on in the background, a commercial came on about taking the online “Jeopardy!” test, the “entry point” for people who want to compete on the show.
Having taken the test once a few years back, she thought she was just signing up to take it at some point. But instead, the test started immediately.
That was a blessing in disguise.
“Probably because I didn’t have to think so much about it, I kind of just did it,” she said. “It went maybe better than if I had gotten in my own head about it.”
Haase made it on to the second round of testing, which was held a couple weeks later, on her birthday. She answered questions on the computer again, but this time, while on Zoom.
While on a vacation to Europe, Haase got an email from the show, inviting her to Round 3: A mock “Jeopardy!” game via Zoom, using a pen as a pretend buzzer. During that round, which she did in August, producers also asked the potential contestants questions about themselves.
In September, Haase found out she had made it onto the show.
“The whole thing, particularly because it went so fast, I was kind of thinking, am I being punked?” she said. “Is this a scam? Like, what’s the catch? It just didn’t feel possible.”
When Haase’s husband found out that she’d be on the show, his advice to her was: Just make sure you have enough money to play in “Final ‘Jeopardy!'” Haase said.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really cute. Because my only goal is to not embarrass myself on television,” she said, laughing.
Knowing she’d be leaving for filming in just over a month, Haase took general knowledge online quizzes to prepare. Previous “Jeopardy!” contestant Colin Davy used data science to connect commonly reused clues, aka “Pavlov clues,” from the show with the most commonly occurring keyword phrases for each of them. Haase used that as a starting point to determine which areas she didn’t feel strong in and wanted to study up or refresh herself on. She also made flashcards.
In October, Haase flew to California for filming at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.
The day Haase reported to set, five episodes were filmed. The contestant pool for that day didn’t know which episode they’d make their debut on until just before it started, Haase said.
It was a full day of managing nerves and expectations, and trying not to get too in her head, Haase said. During the other episodes that filmed that day, she said she noted which categories came up, knowing that they probably wouldn’t be used again so soon.
“The whole thing is a whirlwind,” she said.
Get to know Wisconsin ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant Nicole Haase
Haase, who grew up in Glendale, studied print journalism at Loyola University New Orleans, where she graduated in 2003.
But, when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, she returned to the Milwaukee area.
Haase went back to school, at Waukesha County Technical College, a few years later to study baking and pastry. She wrote on the side while working in the food industry, including at Rocket Baby Bakery and for Goodwill Industries.
She’s primarily been a freelance journalist for around a decade now, she said. She specializes in women’s sports, particularly hockey. She’s been to Sweden, Switzerland and Finland to cover the IIHF U18 Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships over the past few years. In January, she’ll be traveling to Nova Scotia for it.
She’s also worked the front desk at Oconomowoc High School two days a week for the past five years.
For fun, Haase enjoys attending sporting events around the world, from several FIFA Women’s World Cups to a Formula 1 race in Europe; sewing; reading; trivia; and spending time with her 7-year-old basset hound, Ripley. Her favorite local spots include Ono Kine Grindz and Blue’s Egg + Bakery, and as a former New Orleanian, Maxie’s for Mardi Gras.
Editor’s note: Nicole Haase has written freelance articles for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: This West Allis woman is going to be on ‘Jeopardy!’
Reporting by Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
