Temecula Woman Competes on 'JEOPARDY!'

UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP OF RACHEL LIPTAK'S MARCH 22 JEOPARDY! APPEARANCE.

A Temecula woman will appear on the TV game show “JEOPARDY!” Friday, according to producers.

Patch reached out to Rachel Liptak, 30, of Temecula after learning late Thursday she would appear on the popular quiz show.

For Liptak, who attended Vail Ranch Middle School and Temecula Valley High School, Friday’s episode is a long time coming.

She said she is an avid “JEOPARDY!” watcher and “always thought it would be a cool thing to do.”

While working on her master’s degree in medieval studies at Fordham University in New York City, NY, she tried out for the show. She made it through an online test and was invited for an audition but did not get a call back.

After returning to Temecula in 2011 from an overseas teaching job she held in Slovakia for four years, Liptak said she has been looking for work—ideally at a history museum.

In her downtime, she decided to do “JEOPARDY!'s” online test again. This time, she made it through the audition phase. The episode Liptak is appearing in on Friday was filmed in November 2012 at the show’s studios in Culver City.

To prepare, Liptak said she and her parents—her mother is a teacher at Hillcrest Academy in Temecula and her father is retired federal law enforcement —used old Trivial Pursuit games.

“I had about a month-and-a-half to prepare,” Liptak said.

Liptak said she was not nervous when the show was being taped, but now that she knows it is airing, the nervousness has arrived.

“One of the greatest things about the show is everyone is extremely nice,” Liptak said.

Even Host Alex Trebek.

“He was interesting. He answers questions from the audience during breaks. I think people often think of him as stoic and knowledgeable but he admits they just give him the answers,” Liptak said.

Temecula viewers can watch the episode at 7 p.m. local time on Los Angeles’ KABC-TV to see how Liptak fares.