× Expand Photo courtesy of Jeopardy Productions Inc. Zach Dark on Jeopardy! Zach Dark, a 31-year-old investment analyst from Hoover, Alabama, stands with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek during a taping of the show in Culver City, California in December 2017.

Zach Dark grew up playing Jeopardy! with his dad as they watched it on TV, and he always wanted to be on the show.

The 31-year-old investment analyst from Hoover finally got his chance and will be in a Jeopardy! episode that airs this coming Monday, March 12.

Dark said it was a dream come true for him and something he’s been trying to do for more than a decade.

He auditioned twice in Memphis and Nashville for the college Jeopardy! competition while he was at Samford University between 2004 and 2008 and again in Atlanta for the adult show in 2015, but he never got called to be on the show. He went back to Nashville for another audition this past summer, and in November, he got a phone call and was invited to Culver City, California, for a taping in December.

The show will air Monday at 2:30 p.m. on WIAT­–Channel 42 in Birmingham.

He can’t reveal the outcome of his match but said “it certainly was a great experience.”

He didn’t know what to expect, but the producers of the show do a very good job of making the contestants feel comfortable before the cameras start rolling, he said.

“It’s laid back and relaxed. They know you’re nervous about everything — being on TV, that kind of thing.,” he said.

They make sure everybody understands the rules and give contestants time to practice on stage and get comfortable with the buzzer, Dark said. Knowing the answers to the questions is not the most difficult part, he said. “I think the buzzers are the part that gives people the most trouble.”

But the producers also helped prepare them for that, advising them to practice before they came by using a pen that clicks, he said.

Dark didn’t really study for the show. He just watched it on TV to prepare, he said. “You know there are certain categories they go back to a lot,” he said.

Dark said he has always been a trivia competition fan. When he and his dad would watch the show together when he was growing up, they would compete against each other, and his sister would keep score, he said. Then he played on the Scholars Bowl team at Benjamin Russell High School in Alexander City.

He has lived in the Birmingham area since graduating from Samford in 2008 and now lives in Hoover off Rocky Ridge Road with his wife, Lauren, and 2-year-old son, Sam. He worked at BBVA Compass for a few years and has been an investment analyst with Regions Bank for about six years.