Michael T. Mondak speaks about his quest to get to The Alex Trebek Stage

Stage Ten at Sony Pictures Studios... it's been the longtime home studio of Jeopardy! since 1994.

Since 2021, it's been officially known as The Alex Trebek Stage.

It's also a place where I have been trying to get to for the last fifteen to twenty years.

I've been attempting to get to the Alex Trebek Stage to be a contestant on Jeopardy! since 2008 when I was in college.  It seems that I can emcee the occasional tournament in my neighborhood, but I cannot seem to get an audition for the show as a contestant even by passing the online contestant test.

Over the years, I have attempted to enlist help from Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, Rachael Ray, Bonnie Hunt, Anderson Cooper, Jeff Probst, Drew Barrymore, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson to get me to the Alex Trebek Stage as a contestant on Jeopardy! but nothing has worked.  (Even my aces in the hole, Anderson Cooper, Jeff Probst and Harry Connick Jr. were of no help.)

My visions initially began with me setting a new one day record, winning three games and clinching a spot in the Tournament of Champions.  Those visions remained until 2019 when James Holzhauer did everything that I had visions of doing as a contestant on Jeopardy!  (You can make the argument that he was an exceptional player, but I don't believe that to be the case since he lost to current host Ken Jennings in Jeopardy!: The Greatest of All Time in January 2020...)

I would give anything to get to the Alex Trebek Stage as a contestant on Jeopardy!  I have even attempted to try what Joe Namath did prior to his guarantee in Super Bowl III by saying that if he was given the win in Super Bowl III, then in return, whoever Joe said it to didn't have to give the New York Jets anything else for the rest of his life (in my case, getting me to the Alex Trebek Stage and going on a winning streak to clinch a spot in the Tournament of Champions in return for not giving anything to my family until I am the last surviving member of my immediate family).  Even that didn't help get me to Culver City.

Then one night while sitting up in my bed, I watched on YouTube an episode of the Swedish version of Jeopardy! where the participating contestants were two person teams, and then I fell asleep and dreamt about me and my longtime best friend Dr. Melissa Ann Eaton teaming up as Jeopardy! contestants on the Alex Trebek Stage in a tournament where we would match wits against other two person teams in a tournament just like we did in the Shenango Cup Challenge at Penn State Shenango.

Until next time, please help in the fight against childhood cancers by contributing to the Four Diamonds Fund.  And please take care of yourself and each other.

Dedicated to Alex Trebek

Forever in our hearts

Always out inspiration

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