Central Academy’s “Jeopardy Jill” Continues Winning Ways on TV

NOTE: Central Academy teacher Jill Gilbert will appear on a two-episode final round of the Jeopardy! teacher tournament, which will air on WHO-TV Channel 13 on Thursday, May 12 and Friday, May 13 at 3:30 PM.

Central Academy teacher Jill Gilbert is a finalist on the Jeopardy! teacher tournament.

By now you probably know that Central Academy English teacher Jill Gilbert is cleaning up in the JEOPARDY teachers’ tournament. Last week she advanced to the semifinals where yesterday she won again to advance to the two-day final episodes which will air on television tomorrow and Friday. On the line, besides even more bragging rights than she’s already amassed, is the $100,000 grand prize that goes to the winner.

At this point nobody around here is betting against Gilbert, least of all her 7th and 8th grade students who got to watch reruns of Tuesday’s show in class this morning. And lest anyone wonder if cheering on their Stanford-educated teacher while she flexes her intellectual muscles on TV is an appropriate use of class time coming down the stretch of the school year, remember that JEOPARDY is one of the rare programs that’s inherently educational. To watch it is to learn something.

Students in Jill Gilbert’s class get comfortable to watch her appearance on Jeopardy!

Before class on Wednesday morning Gilbert explained the process which led her to game show stardom.

Her JEOPARDY ambitions are longstanding but it took some convincing from her brother, East High AP Government teacher Paul Sporleder, to tackle the online qualifying exam.

“I guess I passed that because I was invited to a tryout in Kansas City last summer,” Gilbert said. She was vying for a spot on a regular episode of JEOPARDY but when the show’s producers asked if she might be interested in the teachers’ tournament she didn’t hesitate.

“For one thing, with regular JEOPARDY you have to pay your own expenses. For the tournament they pay your expenses plus you’re guaranteed at least $5,000 in prize money.”

After some months in limbo she was invited to compete in an event which airs over the course of five shows that were all taped on the same grueling day in Washington D.C. last month.

Watching a tape of her latest win with her class made up in behind-the-scenes insights what it lacked in suspense about the outcome. Occasionally Gilbert would pause the action to explain what was going through her fully stocked and nimble mind.

“Okay, I thought I knew this one, but it was a $2,000 question. Would it be smart to play a hunch at a time like that?” Not when you’re in the lead, which Gilbert was at the time.

As the DOUBLE JEOPARDY board dwindled away, Gilbert was narrowly in front when her closest competitor beat her to the buzz on a question she knew. You could see her frustration on the screen. But when her rival answered incorrectly she pounced on the second chance to add to her total by the same amount that was deducted from her pursuer. The class cheered. She followed that by capitalizing on a “Daily Double” opportunity to put her in a comfortable lead heading into FINAL JEOPARDY where all three players get to answer and decide in advance how much they want to wager on their response.

Gilbert called another timeout at that point to explain the mental math she went through to calculate an amount which, assuming she answered correctly, would ensure that she couldn’t be caught. The category, Art Models, didn’t sound like her strong suit. What to do? Sure enough, she won by a buck, $19,801 to $19,800.

That final question/answer, by the way, played right into the wheelhouse of an Iowa girl who grew up in Lake City. Of course she knew the title of Grant Wood’s iconic painting, “American Gothic”. As she told JEOPARDY taskmaster Alex Trebek when he came over to congratulate her at show’s end, “I’m from Iowa, you know.” More specifically, Room 1014 at Central Academy in the Des Moines Public Schools, where the teacher has been getting ovations from her students lately.

As if Gilbert’s students didn’t already know it, their teacher really knows what she’s talking about.

If you can, tune in to watch JEOPARDY Jill at 3:30 PM tomorrow and Friday in the dramatic finals on WHO-TV.