ESTEVAN — Jodi Tweed and the other members of her family love to watch TV games shows. Trivia shows are among their favourites.
Now she is going to put her trivia knowledge to the test with an appearance on the July 8 edition of Battle of the Generations. Tweed will represent generation X on the episode, which pits a baby boomer, a generation Xer, a millennial and a generation Z contestant in a battle for prize money.
Tweed said her family watched every episode of Season 1 when it debuted in June 2023.
"I follow them on social media, and they had a casting call for Season 2 of Battle of the Generations. So, I thought about it, and I decided to send in a video audition. You had to send in a 90-second clip, I believe it was, talking about yourself, where you were from, and why you would be a good contestant or a good representative of your generation."
She submitted her video last summer and said she heard back from the show at the end of August 2024. From there, she started the process to actually becoming a contestant, which she said was more than she expected.
"They got my video at some point, and then I received an email, and I had a video call where they did a sample test and asked a bunch of questions. And then from there, it might have been another month or so, where I heard back that I had been selected. They phoned me and asked if I was available to come out and tape an episode in November," said Tweed.
She was assigned a story producer, with several meetings via Zoom to get her prepared to be on the show, get her necessary information, sign a contract and more.
Over a thousand people tried out for the show, she said, although she hasn't been given an exact number of hopefuls. Twenty episodes were filmed over the course of two weeks.
While she can't divulge how she fared, Tweed said the experience was fantastic. She praised the people involved.
"They took such good care of us, and I have a whole new respect for all of the people who work on them, because there is so much behind the scenes that goes into making these shows look and work the way they do. From start to finish, my experience was amazing," she said.
Battle of the Generations has several rounds, Tweed said, with one person eliminated at the end of each, until there is one contestant remaining. That individual has to make it through vault questions in a speed round. If successful, the person earns the money the other contestants banked to that point.
Then there is the option of the all-or-nothing cash-in question; if you go for it and get it wrong, Tweed said you lose everything. If you get it right, you win $25,000.
Since she announced her selection for Battle of the Generations, Tweed said she has had lots of expressions of support from the community. In her clip that she submitted, she noted she doesn't believe smaller cities, particularly those in Saskatchewan are well represented on game shows.
"And so I just think it's the coolest thing, and people have been very, very supportive. I had to keep it a secret for a very, very long time, which was difficult," said Tweed, who noted only a couple of people close to her knew that she was selected.
The producers said they would be in touch with each individual contestant closer to their air date. Tweed's appearance was supposed to air July 2, but she believes it was bumped back a week due to the Canada Day holiday the day before.
"People were pretty excited when I said I was going to be on the show," she said. "When I was able to share my specific episode, it's been a really wonderful response, and I'm super excited to see it all come together."
She encouraged people to try out for a show if they have an interest; the worst thing she said that could happen is they don't hear back, while the best result would be the experience of a lifetime on a game show.
Tweed's appearance on Battle of the Generation airs on CTV on July 8 and 9, and it will also be streamed on Crave TV.
