By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
Tyler Van Patten is no ordinary eighth grade student.
The straight-A student at St. John’s Lutheran School proved that Friday night, winning $23,801 in winning his episode of “Jeopardy! Kids Week” on CBS.
All three contestants answered the final question – What is the Heimlich Manuever? – correctly, but Van Patten had a $6,000 lead on the other contestants going into the final event.
The airing of the episode ended a long period of waiting for Tyler and his family, as the episode was filmed Oct. 5 in Los Angeles.
A smart kid
Van Patten is just 12 years old – he skipped a grade – and has already taken the ACT exam, scoring above the national and state average.
One of 15 lucky 10- to 12-year-olds who worked through the application process and then were chosen at random, Van Patten was one of three contestants on “Jeopardy! Kids Week” Friday at 6 p.m.
Van Patten was the only youngster chosen from Wisconsin to fly to Los Angeles Oct. 5, and had a chance to win up to $15,000 or more while competing against other children his age.
Van Patten applied to be on the show without any expectations. His grandmother watches “Jeopardy!” and told him about the “Kids Week” possibility.
The 12-year-old then completed the online application and took a test in the summer of 2013.
“We did all of this on a whim,” his mother, Kim, said.
He did well enough to earn a chance to interview in Chicago with Sony Entertainment executives in March of this year. In addition to interviewing with show executives, he did a mock “Jeopardy!” game.
“I would say so,” is all Tyler said when asked if he’d done well. Apparently the executives agreed, because Tyler’s name was entered into the pool of potential contestants.
From there, 15 youngsters were chosen at random.
In July, Kim got a phone call from Sony Entertainment. She answered a number of different legal questions.
“Then she said, ‘Now that we’re all done with that, I’d like to invite Tyler to participate,” Kim said.
Tyler admits he was “amazed.”
“Overjoyed is a good word,” said the 12-year-old, whose favorite subject is American history.
Because of alphabetical order, Tyler was in the last group of three to film their show – and that show aired last. The day of the event, all 15 contestants were bused to the studio from the hotel, and put through makeup and then another mock “Jeopardy!” game.
Then starting at 11 a.m., the five episodes were filmed consecutively.
“It was overwhelming,” Tyler admitted, saying that there were a lot of bright lights and a small studio audience. But for all of the emotions he felt, Tyler was still “excited that I was having this opportunity.”
Taping the episode took about 45 minutes, he said.
“I guess I was surprised at how quickly they could film a half an hour show,” he explained.
Because of contractual obligations, he couldn’t tell anyone how he did, or anything about the show. Everyone had to wait until Friday to find out.
“Sometimes there are many questions that come my way,” Tyler explained. “A lot of things I can’t answer.”
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