Helen Yoas has been a lifelong fan of the game show Jeopardy, dating back to the Art Fleming days, and tonight, the Montoursville native will appear on the show herself.

Yoas always had a casual interest in competing, however, an arduous interview process, often involving traveling to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Philadelphia or even New York, was less than desirable.

“Once they made the tests online, and it became a lot easier to apply, I thought, well, what the heck? Why not,” Yoas, who hails from Montoursville, said.

Roughly a year after taking the initial test, she was invited to audition via Zoom.

Yoas described the audition set up as “kind of like The Brady Bunch,” with potential contestants instructed to click a pen, in place of a buzzer, after which they would be asked trivia questions.

Another audition followed about six months later, at which point, she was told she would be in the eligibility pool until November.

“If I didn’t get a call by then, I was welcome to reapply, and I kind of thought, ‘well, I’ll probably be reapplying in November,'” said Yoas, who retired from Pennsylvania College of Technology last year.

However, as luck would have it, Yoas was invited to compete in an episode being taped on March 10.

“It just so happened that my husband, who works at Penn College, would be on spring break, and we thought, ‘well, we can go to LA. during spring break,'” she said.

Arriving the prior Sunday, Yoas and her husband attended the Monday taping so she could have the opportunity to see the show from the live audience perspective before competing.

Although her episode is set to air less than two months after being taped, Yoas said it feels like forever since she appeared, since she has been sworn to secrecy, though she was free to discuss her experiences in general.

“I have never seen any crew that was more professional and kind. They know how to treat people,” she said.

“I’m really phobic about falling and, getting right to the stage, there were no railings, and there were lights around the edge of the last few steps, and I couldn’t see where to put my feet, and the woman that had walked me over there just put out her arm so I could hold on to her arm going up the steps. Anytime I went anywhere where there were no railings, there was somebody there waiting for me with their arm out,” she said.

She was equally impressed with how personable host Ken Jennings was.

“He will spend five to 10 minutes between every game just letting the audience ask questions and talking. He was really wonderful,” she said.

Jennings has a cheat sheet of sorts with basic information about the contestants, which he autographed before handing them back at the end of the game, Yoas said.

Being married nearly 40 years, Yoas continues to have her last name mispronounced, which she said was not a problem for Jennings.

Despite having it phonetically written out for him, he still took the time to ask how to pronounce it.

After Yoas instructed him, Jennings replied, “oh, it rhymes with Lois,” she said.

“Nobody had ever thought of that. My husband and his father, both when I told them about it, their mouths just dropped open,” she said.

“He’s done a great job filling Alex’s shoes, as far as I’m concerned,” Yoas added.

Although many people might worry about their minds going blank when answering game show questions live, Yoas said she struggled the most with the buzzer.

“I spend a lot of time fast forwarding through commercials with my remote, so I thought I didn’t need to practice on the buzzer, but I definitely could have used more practice,” she said.

An aspect of the show that surprised her the most was that the pacing was slower than she expected it to be.

“One thing I’m really looking forward to is having the show in front of me to remind me of what happened because after almost two months, it’s kind of like, did this really happen,” she said.

“There are certain moments that stick out here and there, but I really can’t wait to watch it,” Yoas said, adding that of all the questions she attempted, she really only recalls three of them.

“And there are a heck of a lot more than three questions in a Jeopardy match,” she said.

For Yoas, the highlight of the experience was the camaraderie between contestants.

“They were all encouraging and kind. I didn’t meet anybody with any kind of ax to grind, other than let’s have fun and see what happens,” she said.

“We’ve all had an email chain going since we got home, getting back in touch with each other,” Yoas said. “One of the two players I competed against had a three-month-old daughter, and I’m cherishing a picture he sent me during March Madness, and she was in an Indiana uniform,” she said.

“He was saying how he was hoping that they might be able to get here during the Little League World Series, and I’m thinking you’re already trying to get your three-month-old daughter hooked on basketball,” she said with a laugh.

“I also had some of the best hamburgers I’ve had in ages. The hotel we stayed in had an aged rib eye hamburger and they made a pretty darn good margarita, so that took care of two of our meals while we were there,” she added.

Yoas will celebrate her appearance with a watch party at Kimball’s Pub Thursday night.

“That’s the night they have quizzo, but they’re moving it back by half an hour in case anybody wants to talk to me or ask questions,” she said, though this got her into a slight bit of trouble.

“My church decided to do a watch party, and I can’t be there because I already made plans to be at the other watch party, and I feel so bad. But I told them I’m going to do my best to drop by with dessert,” Yoas chuckled.

Asked for her advice to anyone interested in competing on a game show of their own liking, Yoas offered, “I’d say, go for it, if it’s something that interests you.”

Yoas’ episode of Jeopardy will air at 7:30 p.m. today on WBRE-TV.