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Poland woman to appear this week on ‘Jeopardy!’
Photo
Patricia Kelvin of Poland poses with Alex Trebek, host of the popular television quiz show “Jeopardy!” during taping in November in Los Angeles. Kelvin’s appearance on local TV will air Thursday.
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Patricia Kelvin of Poland will be a contestant on “Jeopardy!” on Thursday.
The popular and long-lived nightly quiz show, hosted by Alex Trebek, airs locally at 7:30 p.m. on WKBN-TV.
Kelvin is the editor of The Jewish Journal of Youngstown. She was an editorial writer for The Vindicator from 1995 to 2002.
She is contractually bound to not reveal the outcome of her appearance, but she said it was a fun experience.
“I’ve always been good at having knowledge of a lot of facts,” said Kelvin, who admitted she never thought about trying out for the show until fairly recently.
“When I was very little, I would read the encyclopedia, and that got me started on training to be able to remember things,” she said. “I always loved watching ‘Jeopardy!’ but never thought about being on the show.”
Her path to the show began a couple of years ago when she took the show’s online test, which aims to find potential contestants. She did not receive a response from the show for almost a year. Then she was invited to audition in Detroit, which she did in July 2013.
Again she played the waiting game, and had just about given up hope when she received an email in October inviting her to be on the show. She flew to Los Angeles in November for the taping.
Kelvin said she prepared pages of questions to study on the plane ride, but never got to look at them.
“I was sitting next to an interesting woman from Detroit, and we wound up talking the whole trip,” Kelvin said. “I didn’t study at all but it turned out OK because not a single question I was given on the show had any resemblance to what I was going to study. So I was better off for having made a friend.”
The show coordinators had to make a special effort for Kelvin, who is 5 feet 1 inch tall. They gave her a small platform to stand on during taping so that she was at a comfortable level. “They make sure you have a good time and do as well as you possibly can,” she said.
Kelvin said she will travel to Columbus to watch the episode with her son and his wife.
The “Jeopardy!” appearance is just the latest adventure for Kelvin, who was born in England, raised in Australia and has traveled the globe. She visited Peru last year, where she studied Spanish and climbed to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu.