Jeopardy! contestants are always ready to give fans of the game show a look at what goes on behind the scenes, and player David Maes was no exception! In a Reddit post, Maes gave viewers some details about what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling, including what it’s like to watch the show from the green room— aka the Wheel of Fortune set!
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Maes was not on Jeopardy! for very long, losing his one and only game to multi-day champion Troy Meyer. Losing didn’t ruin the fun for Maes, though, as he showed in a lengthy post about his time on the game show.
He called Meyer “even more likable in person than he already appears on screen” and commended the show’s entire crew for being “among the best in the business.” Maes also provided aspiring contestants with some tips about how to spend their time once they’re lost a game.
“I highly recommend staying in the green room (aka the Wheel of Fortune stage) after your game; watching, commenting, and cheering on live games with fellow contestants was a blast,” Maes wrote.
He went on to explain that the Jeopardy! contestants go to the studio where Wheel of Fortune is shot and watch from the audience seats. “The stage (where the WoF board and the Wheel is) is pretty much dark and off-limits,” Maes shared. “There’s a conspicuous sign to DO NOT TOUCH THE WHEEL.”
“There’s a livestream to the Jeopardy stage on multiple monitors, and because they can’t hear us, we were shouting ‘DO IT!’ to the screens to egg on fellow contestants to go for true daily doubles,” he laughed.
Maes also elaborated on how sitting on the Wheel of Fortune soundstage is much more fun than sitting in the Jeopardy! studio audience, writing, “After our game, we had the option of going to the audience (where you sit politely) or going back to the green room (where you get to shout out answers to triple stumpers and Final Jeopardy with new friends).”
While sitting in the Jeopardy! audience as contestants play might sound cool, Maes’ Reddit post revealed that there’s much more fun going on behind the scenes on a very different game show set.