Every night, sophomore twins Faris and Tijani Karaborni’s grandparents watch Jeopardy!. They hope is that, one day, they will see their babies on the big screen.
The Karaborni twins qualified for Teen Jeopardy! auditions in LA through an online test that they took in March. Teen Jeopardy! is for high school students and is characterized by easier trivia. In order for the admissions test to fairly reflect students’ Jeopardy! potential, the test was administered at 6 p.m. standard Pacific time. Competitors had 15 seconds to type in answers to questions that covered pop culture, science, history, literature, and miscellaneous categories. According to the twins, out of 70,000 students that take the test, only 3 percent are called back for the auditions in Los Angeles.
Both brothers qualified individually, and will have to compete individually in the auditions on January 15. The plan is that the brothers will drive down to LA for the San Ramon DECA Conference and then audition for Teen Jeopardy! when it’s over.
”Originally, we had only thought that [Tijani] made it, because they sent him an email personally, and they sent my acceptance email to my mom, and she just thought it was another email confirming that he made it,” said Faris Karaborni. “So, I felt a little depressed for a while because I knew we answered the exact same stuff on the test.”
To prepare, the brothers watch Jeopardy! every night, as they have since childhood. Both their parents and grandparents are supportive and excited that they are pursuing such a unique opportunity for fame and $75,000.
“The experience would be absolutely fantastic, and of course we could put it on our college apps,” says Tijani Karaborni.
“If we start losing we can just do a bunch of funny stuff and just yell kids that we know, like ‘what is Philip Tsai? Michael Whittaker?’” says Faris Karaborni. ”If you’re losing by $40,000 you might as well have fun.”
Correction at 8:32 p.m. on Jan. 4: The last name for Faris and Tijani Karaborni was previously spelled incorrectly.