Jeopardy! finds answer to “What is Pitt!”

“What is the Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Alex?”

This is how a contestant would… “What is the Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Alex?”

This is how a contestant would respond if Alex Trebek said, “This is where and when the 2004 College Championship Jeopardy! was recently taped.”

Using the Petersen Events Center as their stage, Trebek and the whole Jeopardy! crew transformed the state-of-the-art basketball arena into a Jeopardy! set that included a representation of the Cathedral of Learning and yet another panther statue (don’t worry, this one wasn’t real bronze).

Three students represented the city of Pittsburgh: a Pitt student, a Carnegie Mellon student and a Dickinson College student who hails from Pittsburgh.

Amanda Nowotny, a 19-year-old music and politics-philosophy major, represented Pitt at the College Championships. The sophomore looked strong and showed no signs of fear in the rehearsal game. She breezed out to an early lead ahead of the Carnegie Mellon and Missouri students against whom she was competing.

Asked if she was nervous about the event, Nowotny said, “A little right now. I’m too sleepy to be nervous. It’ll come on later.” She then described the whole idea of being on Jeopardy! as “sort of surreal.”

Nowotny, who said she has always been a Jeopardy! fan, did try to prepare a little bit.

“I played some practice games, and the Pitt quiz bowl helped me out a little,” she said.

Nowotny will have her parents and friends in the stands, cheering her on, and she admitted that the home-field advantage could definitely work in her favor.

Despite the excitement of being on Jeopardy!, Nowotny said she felt a little disappointed that Trebek no longer sports his trademark moustache.

“I prefer with [the moustache]. I’m disappointed to see him shave. It’s sad,” Nowotny joked.

Billed as one of the first “intelligent game shows” by television critics, Jeopardy! was created in the ’60s and brought back in the ’80s.

“I feel really good about the way Jeopardy! has progressed and developed over the years,” said Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy! “Although the format has remained the same — we give you the answer, you come up with the question — we have changed in terms of approach; we have changed in terms of presentation.”

Trebek said they have changed the set every few years to keep with the times. He also mentioned the additions of audio clues, video clues and the Clue Crew: four people who travel all over the world to do the live clues included in the games.

“Each year, we go to a different venue, and it adds to the excitement,” Trebek said of the college championships. “You’re going to see two to three thousand people cheering on their favorite son. Maybe there will be students who have driven many, many miles to cheer on their buddies in the competition.”

Trebek said it’s not only exciting for the people in the audience and at home, but also for him.

“I get to schmooze with a couple thousand people,” he said. “I’ll talk to them during the commercial breaks, so that they can ask whatever question they want to ask. It’s a little bit like, I suppose, a town hall meeting with politicians.”

During the taping of the quarterfinal matches, Trebek went into the audience of about 3,000 people and fielded questions from topics ranging from politics to sports

One guest asked Trebek who he thought would win the upcoming presidential election.

“It is so close that only a fool would risk a prediction,” Trebek said. “I am not that fool.”

Later, he sized up the candidates’ chances on Jeopardy!.

“I don’t think either one would do particularly well,” Trebek said. “We deal in answers and questions. Neither one of these gentlemen seems to answer any of the questions they are asked.”

Johnny Gilbert, the announcer of Jeopardy!, commented on his first visit to Pittsburgh.

“Everyone is talking about Pittsburgh’s dirty air,” Gilbert said. “Where is it, folks?”

Trebek also answered the most pressing question concerning the state of Jeopardy!: how he feels about no longer having his highly-recognizable moustache.

“You know, I made the change a few years ago, just on a whim, and I don’t miss it at all,” Trebek said. “And keep in mind that I can always grow it back, because I have the talent and I have the know-how, and I can do that.”

This year’s Jeopardy! College Championships will air from Nov. 10 until Nov. 23, culminating in a $100,000 grand prize for the tournament champion.

Chief photographer Michael Mastroianni contributed to this article.