A Trivial Pursuit
UPB sponsors Hollywood Showdown
By Ben Baynton, contributing writer
Posted on October 19, 2006

With a real red carpet rolled out, flashing icicle lights and loud music, Hollywood Showdown was intentionally and comfortably gaudy.

“It was a whole lot of fun,” senior Steve O’Leary said about the University Program Board-sponsored event.

“We are very excited about this program because of the campus excitement about [it],” UPB Vice President of Campus Relations Allison Beisler said. “We want to increase our presence on the JMU campus by having a wide variety of programs.”

Hollywood Showdown is a new inclusion to Homecoming festivities, replacing Talent Jam, which had been attracting less and less of the JMU populous, said Beisler. 

The event began with eight rounds of “Jeopardy”-style trivia. The contestants were chosen by an announcer who instructed the audience to yell as loud as they could and wave their pom-poms. The loudest were chosen.

While the audience was cheering and shouting through most of the showdown, whenever an audio clue was played there were silences where even a pin could be heard dropping.

However, as contestants buzzed in with their answers, the shouts started again.

“The audience was just as involved in the game as the contestants,” said Beisler.

When the initial rounds ended, the real fun began. The eight winners of the first set of rounds were pitted against each other in a series of cutthroat trivia rounds.

If a contestant didn’t answer the question correctly, a member of the audience could try. If that audience member got the answer right, they took the contestant’s place.

Some of the more fun rounds were bilingual challenges, where the contestants had to determine what movie they were listening to, even though the movie was in another language. Another was Movieoke, where the contestants sung different songs from movies. The audience chose the winner. Tracks such as “Hopelessly devoted to You” from “Grease” and songs from “Footloose” were used. 

Some took the competition quite seriously.

“I’ve been practicing for a year,” O’Leary said.

The final round was the most intense. The four remaining contestants lined up over bowls of popcorn. They were then told they had a minute to transport the popcorn to cylinders about four feet away. And they could not use their hands. 

“Awesome contest,” winner junior Rob Roodhouse said. “My face feels like butter.”

For winning, Roodhouse received a new DVD player.