“I’m getting back up.”
“But I get to play again, so already I’ve taken the loss in stride.
I’m excited to be back there on the Alex Trebek stage sometime in the near future.”
Drew Basile on ‘Jeopardy’.Jeopardy
Jeopardy
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you always want to go onJeopardyor did that come about after you went onSurvivor?
DREW BASILE:What’s funny is I had grown up watching two shows,JeopardyandSurvivor.
Nobody had much faith in [me playing]Survivor.
Drew Basile on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
I figured I had a decent chance.
Trivia competing is something I love, and I really didn’t have much expectation beyond that.
How did you get cast onJeopardy?
Was it something you were trying to do beforeSurvivor?
They made the test go online a couple years ago.
I thought, what the heck?
I’ll happily take the online test.
I was fortunate enough to get all the way through callbacks.
It was really a whirlwind.
The timing couldn’t be planned any better.
No, it really can’t at all.
I had to pinch myself every morning.
You’ve got to get a job.
This is not a certain thing."
I think she was quite disconcerted whenJeopardycame around right afterSurvivor.
[Laughs] My mom is always keeping me humble.
How did your time onSurvivorhelp prepare you forJeopardy?
It can’t be overstated that they really are very two different kinds of games.
Both are cerebral, but the way that intelligence applies is completely different.
The main thing thatSurvivormight have prepared me for is a kind of comfortability in front of the camera.
They’re going to pick up on my mistakes.
I won’t be able to defend myself."
That’s very disconcerting for a lot of people.
It was a blast.
Looking back at your overall experiences, which was more difficult:SurvivororJeopardy?
The physical toll ofSurvivorcan’t be overstated.
You’re losing an insane amount of weight.
You’re really in the elements.
I mean, it is true to life.
So it’s extremely validating to have done so well in both competitions.
Well, I won on one of those shows, so that has to be taken into account.
[Laughs] OnSurvivor, I came in with a lot of bluster.
Fair play on that.
I think they compliment each other very well.
I couldn’t say which one reflected better.
I was going to ask about your opening line!
Do you think this run onJeopardyproves you were one of the smartest to ever playSurvivor?
I certainly think so.
I mean, seven wins is nothing to sneeze at.
I think that makes me the second-best performing contestant on this season, so that’s really something.
So that was nice.
I think that I was pretty good onSurvivor.
I think I was underestimated, but certainlyJeopardywas a match to the talents that I exemplified onSurvivor.
Which loss hurt more?
LosingSurvivorprepared me and made it easier to loseJeopardy.Survivor, you’re out there for 23 days.
I will probably never get to playSurvivoragain.
I have to make peace with it.
That’s probably the end of my story.
WithJeopardy, I have this amazing opportunity to play again in theTournament of Champions.
I’m getting back up.
I’m really happy you brought that up, because I have to tell you,Jeopardyis fatiguing.
You saw that with Adriana, and you certainly saw with me.
By the end of the taping day I was exhausted.
I had had a terrible Single Jeopardy round, making all kinds of mistakes.
I mean, MSU, Michigan State.
I’m from Michigan!
I know they’re not the Trojans.
But your mind’s out of it.
And then I had a come to Jesus moment in Double Jeopardy, I had really rallied.
And the amazing thing about Final Jeopardy was I knew the answer.
I knew it was Helen Keller, and I was so exhausted I couldn’t remember the name.
I knew I got it wrong.
I was just so tired, for the life of me I couldn’t remember Helen Keller’s name.
That comes down to a little bit of youth.
That comes down to inexperience.
And hopefully with a little bit of more practice, that’s a correctable mistake.
I’m looking forward that.
And that’s something that really appeals to me.
How are you going to prepare for that?
Reality TV is the same key in of way.
That serendipity is not lost on me.
It’s kind of like an enforced humility.
1, because I lost, but No.
2, because how grateful [I am] to be able to do it.
I’ve tried to venture to internalize that.
