Peter Johnston, Interim Director and faculty member in the Film Studies program at Michigan State University, relied on his high school quiz bowl experience and arts and humanities background to secure a spot on the iconic game show “Jeopardy!” Johnston’s appearance as a contestant aired July 15. He played a strong game solidly taking second place.
“It was so surreal to be on set. It was like all of sudden you’re inside the TV show that you spend your life watching,” he said. “Meeting the other contestants is like summer camp for nerdy trivia folks and everybody is just as into ‘Jeopardy!’ as you are.”
After participating in quiz bowl in Alma, Michigan, Johnston earned a bachelor’s degree in Photography from Alma College and a master’s degree in Digital Media Technology from MSU.
Now as a faculty member in the Department of English, he teaches digital media and film production methods and credits his colleagues in the MSU College of Arts & Letters with introducing him to a wide range of topics and disciplines.
“With a liberal arts background, it was great to get such a broad knowledge base,” Johnston said. “And being in the College of Arts & Letters, we have colleagues in English, arts, theatre, religious studies, all of those things are great subjects to study for if you’re going to be on ‘Jeopardy!’ At the same time, it’s intimidating. I needed to study literature so that I didn’t let my English colleagues down.”
The Final “Jeopardy!” category on the July 15 show was “Theater,” and Johnston and the other contestants came up with the correct response.
Johnston’s “Jeopardy!” journey took more than a year to come to fruition from taking the online test in April 2024 to other tests, auditions, and an online mock game. When he got a call from producers in March 2025 to book the show, he turned the initial taping dates down hoping he could reschedule.
The taping dates were at the end of April during the last week of classes at MSU and the premiere of his students’ final film project, the culmination of nine months in his fiction filmmaking course.
Fortunately, Johnston did get a call back from “Jeopardy!” with new taping dates for May 7-8 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. When he checked into his hotel, he even bumped into some Spartans who were part of a summer study away program in Los Angeles.
“That felt like a good sort of omen. It was like, ‘OK, MSU, this is a good sign,’” Johnston said.
Being a contestant on “Jeopardy!” and a filmmaker gave Johnston a new appreciation of what goes on behind the scenes to produce the televised game show.
“It’s such a well-oiled machine. It was interesting from a directorial standpoint of how you keep this interesting visually and aesthetically,” he said. “If I were to include a game show in a film now, I have an idea of how to make that realistic.”
Johnston has created dozens of short fiction, documentary, and experimental films, winning several awards. His current in-process documentary Magic Town is about the Magic Capital of the World in Colon, Michigan, and the magicians who flock there every year.
Johnston’s advice for others interested in trivia is to take the online “Jeopardy!” test and to take it multiple times like he did.
“I don’t think I really considered being on ‘Jeopardy!’ seriously, but I would take the test,” he said. “You never know. You might make it through the other side too.”
By Beth Bonsall
Media Contacts: Beth Bonsall, Alex Tekip
