Two decades after originally appearing on “Jeopardy!” one Syracuse University alumna might get the chance to answer Alex Trebek’s game show questions once again in the near future.

Diane Siegel, who received her undergraduate degree in 1971 and her master’s in 1972, first appeared on “Jeopardy!” in 1993 and became a five-time champion. From there, she earned a spot on the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005.

She participated in a Jeopardy.com contest in which contestants with the most votes will be selected for a special reunion segment called “The Battle of the Decades.” The voting wrapped up on Monday, but Siegel won’t know if she was chosen for the reunion show until a later date.

The Daily Orange spoke with Siegel about her potential return to the “Jeopardy!” stage and why she needs all the SU support she can get.

The Daily Orange: What was your journey back onto the “Jeopardy!” reunion show like?

Diane Siegel: I got an email in May of this year that invited all the former Tournament of Champions players to submit a picture, questionnaire and video. It didn’t exactly say what it was about — they were pretty mysterious about that. So right away, I turned in the questionnaire and sent the picture, but I didn’t send in a video because I didn’t really quite know what to do and it didn’t say that you had to. A month after that, I got an email that said, “We really encourage everyone to submit a video, and you need to send it in in a week. That’s the deadline.” I was totally overwhelmed and said, “Oh what do I do?” I talked to some people, and it really got down to the wire. I got help from a friend of mine, who was a media teacher, and I called her up in a panic and said, “Evelyn, what can I do? I need to send in a video.” And she told me, “Come on down. I can have some of my students help you.”

The D.O.: How did you develop your initial interest in the game show?

Siegel: Back when I was in elementary school, I used to watch it at lunchtime. Later on in life, when I was a stay-at-home mom of two kids, I used to watch TV, and sometimes I would play along with games. I tried out for a couple game shows and I did quite well, but I thought if I went on “Jeopardy!” and I did poorly, the whole world would see it and that would be embarrassing. At one point, though, I said, “Well you know, I should really try this because I do really like it and I might do well.” I used to live in Los Angeles, and they used to have a lot of people try out there. So, I went down there — and I studied like crazy — and I got called on, and it was one of those perfect moments when I filmed all five shows I was on in one day so it was a really, really incredible experience.

The D.O.: Why should people vote for you to come back on the show?

Siegel: As an SU alum, I think that usually there’s a little Orange pride, and I think I would be able to do a good job if I got back on the show, so that’s one reason to vote for me. The second one is that I think I’ve still got it. I still play along at home and, even though I’m older, experience is a really interesting thing. You learn things throughout your whole life, especially as a curious person. And I think I do qualify as a curious person, and I think it would be fun for people to see what I did then versus what I can do now.

Published on October 7, 2013 at 11:10 pm

Contact Margaret: mglin@syr.edu