That’s What She Said: Who is Mackenzie?

Mackenzie Lance

The first and possibly most important sound I ever remember hearing was a 30 second melody without any words. I heard this sequence five nights a week, nearly every week as a child, and still do.

That perfect arrangement was the “Jeopardy” theme song.

By the age of six I had choreographed a dance to the tune, and tried to write lyrics to accompany. Most of my attempts revolved around the words “smart people, smart people, wining money.”

After a few years, I became fascinated with more than just the theme tune. Eventually I started getting questions right.

At first, my mom taught me a few answers to use for everything. If the answer is a country, say ‘France.’ If it’s a person, say ‘Ghandi.’ If it’s an event say ‘World War II.’ Any other question isn’t worth answering.

Actually, any answer wouldn’t be worth questioning.

Instead of a traditional show, where a question would be asked and the contestant would answer, “Jeopardy” gives the players a very specific answer, and they would have to come up with the question.

At about age eight I mastered the system, and began questioning everything I saw.

My mom would ask me what I wanted for dinner and I would reply, “What are chicken wings?”

My constant questioning paid off and I got the hang of the game to the point where I could beat my family on some questions.

“Jeopardy” went from being a chance to show off to a reason to learn. I started to focus more in school on history, because that’s always a category I could win.

After most shows there is a little commercial about how to qualify for the show. There’s a teen tournament every year and I took the online test.

I forgot I had taken it for a few months until my mom called me to the computer and showed me an e-mail that stated I had scored enough to be invited to the callbacks in LA.

I did a celebratory dance and hummed that tune I had adored as a child.

During the first portion of the audition everyone took a written test, which was pretty much basic knowledge type stuff that you would learn at school.

The next element was a personality interview. I realized I was the odd one out. I don’t work part time at a biotech company and I certainly am not valedictorian. My interview couldn’t be based on my mental capability like everyone else’s.

The “Jeopardy” ‘contestant coordinator’ read off my information sheet and noticed that I wrote “dance parties” under hobbies.

I elaborated about learning Indian dances from a friend and eventually even demonstrated some of my favorite moves like “pet the dog,” and “screw in the light bulb.”

I made the officials laugh, and that put me at ease. I’m sure it wasn’t as impressive as the eight people who work in hospitals but it was the best I could do, and earned me the title of “fun girl,” and won me a “Thirsting for knowledge” water bottle.

Eventually, months after my audition. I was informed by show representatives that no one from San Diego was likely to be picked because the previous year’s winner attended Rancho Bernardo. Even though I was upset and felt like my chance was taken away before it had even stated, the “Jeopardy” people stressed the importance of trying again and again to get on the show, and I will continue to try until I get on the show.

In normal “Jeopardy” fashion…

“This Sundevil learned that individuality and sick dance moves are important qualities to impress TV producers and win souvenir water bottles.”

Who is Mackenzie Lance?

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