Here’s your clue: When this University of Delaware professor appears on Jeopardy!
this week, it will not be her first time competing on a televised quiz
show, but it will be the first one in which she speaks English.
Please answer in the form of a question:
Who is Deborah Steinberger?
The associate professor of French in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
is one of 15 higher education faculty members nationwide to take part
in the inaugural Professors Tournament of the iconic quiz show, in which
contestants are given a clue in the form of an answer and must then
supply the question. The tournament begins on Monday, Dec. 6, with
Steinberger making her quarterfinal appearance on Friday, Dec. 10. If
she is among the winners and wild cards from the first week, she will
advance to semifinal and final play the following week, with a champion
crowned on Friday, Dec. 17, and awarded a $100,000 prize.
Steinberger’s journey to Jeopardy! began when she was a
contestant on the popular French show “Questions pour un champion” in
2009. After winning a spot on the U.S. team at an audition in New York,
she traveled to Paris for the international competition and advanced to
the finals. It was a double challenge, she said, as she drew on her
knowledge of trivia and culture while also thinking and speaking in
French.
Ever since that adventure, she said, people have been encouraging her to try out for Jeopardy! Steinberger
took the preliminary test the show offers several times a year and was
invited to audition on three occasions. After the most recent audition,
she was invited to appear on the show, but the COVID pandemic was
raging, and she felt it was unsafe to travel to California.
“Once I declined, I thought I had lost my only chance to be on the
show,” she said. “I asked them to please keep me in mind for the future,
and I kept watching and practicing, but I didn’t expect to be invited
again.”
Then she saw publicity this fall about plans for the first-ever Professors Tournament, took the online Jeopardy! test
again and was selected. By late October, she was in Los Angeles for a
day of preparation and two days of competition. (The show routinely
tapes multiple episodes a day.)