Posted April 10, 2008 8:51pm

We are less than 24 hours away from the first Jeopardy! show right here in Madison. And who else would stop by the set other than the show's very own host, Alex Trebek.

"This is my first visit," says Trebek. "I got in late last night and this morning walked through the rain."

We got an exclusive interview with the host of the long-time running show, now in it's 24th season, and Alex let us in on what life is like once the cameras go off.

"It's probably a little bit of wonderful! I've been doing the show for 24 years and I never tire of doing the show. But the most exciting part for me is the 30 minutes that I spend on stage with the contestants everyday."

And the contestants are more than excited to get their 15 minutes of fame when the show tapes this Friday.

"I'm very nervous," says the lucky UW contestant, Suchita Shah. "I'm kind of freaking out. I'm psyching myself out a little bit trying to calm down but it's a very surreal experience being here at the Kohl Center which looks nothing like the Kohl Center right now."

Alex Trebek and the contestants will begin taping the show on Friday and the entire Kohl Center has been transformed into the UW themed Jeopardy! set for the show's taping here in Madison. And when asked how he'd score if his hand was on the buzzer?

"Very well if I were in against my peers, senior citizens," says Trebek. "Very poorly if I were in against a talented group of 30 year olds they'd clean my clock."

Alex guessed he gets about 60 percent of the questions on the show right and had this to say about our lucky U-W contestant.

"She's so very very bright! If she's as good as they tell me she is I foresee her winding up in the semi-finals at least."

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Posted April 8, 2008 9:10pm

It's Bucky's full name. If you guessed "What is Buckingham U. Badger?" you're right!

In a game of Classroom Jeopardy! hosted by none other than the show's Clue Crew, UW alumni, faculty and fans got to test their knowledge.

"They seemed to have so much fun!" says Wisconsin Alumni Association member, Sarah Schutt. "They were a little quiet at first but then in true Badger spirit they really got into the game and supported each other and they knew all of the University of Wisconsin questions and knew all of the state of Wisconsin questions."

The alumni competed against each other in 3 teams and got to win Jeopardy! prizes and even tickets to the show's taping. 2 of the clue crew members, Kelly and John, were very excited to bring the game to the Badger state.

"It's such a charming place," says clue crew member Kelly Miyahara. "It's got that little big city feel about it. The capitol is absolutely gorgeous."

And they even had a bit of advice for the lucky UW contestant.

"I would say have a great time," says clue crew member John Cannon. "Make the most of the experience here. You're in a fraternity sorority of 15 kids and only those 15 kids are ever going to know what it was like to be at this college championship and be in their situation and win or lose have a great time."

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Posted April 6, 2008 4:29pm

Jeopardy! mania is underway. The popular quiz show is taking shape at the Kohl Center. Even though it's just a 30 minute show, the entire Jeopardy! setup takes about a week to complete. From the lighting to the set construction Jeopardy! here in Madison is just days away!

The more than 200 person crew is hard at work assembling the many pieces of the set. 7 semis full of parts were needed to haul in all the equipment. Today they focused on setting up the monitors used in the game show and will have everything complete for Alex Trebek's arrival and the first run through of the show on Thursday.

"We've had good luck so far," says tech supervisor, Bob Sofia. "Things are going very well and that's partially because of our pre-production, the talent of the department heads that we bring with us and because of the strong crew that we've picked up here locally."

Although it takes an entire week to setup, the whole set will be taken down in about a day. The show begins taping this Friday!