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It’s one of the hardest writing jobs to get in America, and it pays up to $178,000 a year. What is: “Jeopardy!” clue writer?
Correct! The quiz show just filled a rare opening, the first time in its 42-year history the clue writer job has ever been publicly advertised, according to the Wall Street Journal. More than 1,300 people applied in just eight days before the role was filled.
The application was brutal. Candidates had to take the same 50-question test contestants do, with 15 seconds per answer, then submit six full categories for the Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds, five clues each, plus three Final Jeopardy categories, according to TVInsider. Every clue needed a real source — Wikipedia and AI were both banned.
Writing a good clue is trickier than it looks. The real skill is “pinning” it to exactly one correct answer, avoiding vague wording that could confuse contestants. Co-head writer Billy Wisse says the goal is to get viewers to react in one of three ways. “Hey, I knew that. Gee, I should have known that. Or, I didn’t know that, but now I’m kind of glad I do.”
If you missed the job listing this time, fret not. “It’s a conveyor belt of material,” says executive producer Michael Davies, citing the 25,000-plus clues that aired across the franchise last year. “We will need more writers.”