If you spent any time in Fresno’s Tower District in the mid-2000s, you probably know Fran Fried. Blond bob, always with a smile, she could usually be found dominating the Pub Quiz trivia nights at the Landmark.
Fran left Fresno in 2012 after she lost her job at The Fresno Bee, but you’ll have the chance to see her again when she shows up on your TV during tonight’s episode of Jeopardy!
Appearing on Jeopardy! has been a longtime dream for Fran, who got hooked on the show while working at the Bee (which is where she and I met many moons ago).
I asked Fran about her experience auditioning, what the the reaction to her appearance has been, and what Alex Trebek smells like.
FresYes: When did you arrive in Fresno, and when did you leave?
Fran Fried: I moved to Fresno (where I was an assistant features editor and night sports editor at the Bee) from New Haven, CT (where I was the entertainment editor/music writer at the New Haven Register) in March 2004. I moved home in August 2012 after the Bee let me go a second time.
How long have you been a Jeopardy! fan?
The original show first aired on NBC in 1964, and I started watching it shortly after as a toddler in Brooklyn. (We moved to Connecticut the following year.) Mom had the TV on all day, and I started gravitating to the game shows. I liked Jeopardy!, and as I started in school, I started being able to answer some of the questions.
The show went off the air when I was in eighth grade (1975), and while I was excited when the Trebek syndicated version started airing in 1984, I didn’t watch much because I was working as a sportswriter five nights a week, and when I was off, I was seeing bands and seeing bands and seeing bands and going to movies. I would watch the show occasionally, thinking, “I can do this,” but when I moved to Fresno, and had normal hours for the first time in my adult life, I started watching regularly and seriously thinking about getting on the show.
I understand it took a few auditions before you made it onto the show. What made you keep trying?
I went to the auditions in San Francisco in April 2004, November 2007, and November 2010, and in Times Square this past April. The first time I tried out, there was a contestant, a substitute teacher in SF, who was auditioning for the fourth or fifth time. That’s when I realized this could be a long slog. (He actually got on the show that summer, and I was glad to see he won a game.) So there was no shame in not being picked.
A number of factors go into it, such as how well you did on the tests, and your personality. If I have the numbers right, 30,000 people take the test in one year, 3,000 make it to the auditions, and about 400 make it to the show. This time, I happened to squeeze myself down that funnel. And the timing seems right, as if this is happening at the right time.
Your local newspaper, The Hartford Courant, has focused on your status as the third transgender contestant to appear on Jeopardy!, and is calling you an activist. Is that something you expected when you found out you were going to appear on the show? Or were you hoping it wouldn’t be considered a big deal?
As far as the contestant crew and I could figure, I was the third out person in my dysphoric tribe to make the show. There was a contestant two years ago, and one who went to the Tournament of Champions after transitioning. But the gender thing was no big deal to the Jeopardy! crew. In fact, it wasn’t brought up at all until I asked on my way out about whether I was the third. [A crew member] said, “It was no issue. We loved having you. You have a wonderful personality.” She said it wasn’t even a point of discussion when selecting contestants.
It was a little strange seeing the Hartford Courant hed online: “CT Transgender Activist to Be on ‘Jeopardy!’ ” I describe myself on my Facebook profile as an “accidental human rights activist,” but that’s alongside being an editor, a writer, and a DJ. I mean, I’ve talked to college classes about the gender thing, and I was asked for my input a couple years ago when a school district on Long Island was creating a trans-inclusive school policy, and between my blog over the years (Franorama World) and just living the day-to-day and being myself in the everyday, mostly non-trans world, winning hearts and minds one or a few at a time, maybe that’s been a subtle form of activism. Plus, I’m pretty opinionated and passionate, and I post a lot on social media, especially about injustice.
In my everyday life, being trans is no big deal. I mean now millions know, but in the day-to-day, I don’t walk around with a neon sign over my head flashing, “Trans! Trans! Trans!” But that said, I certainly know that in the big picture, this is a huge deal. Especially right now in this country, with what’s going on in Washington. I’ve lived in two states (California and Connecticut) and worked in another place (New York City) where discrimination based on gender identity is illegal. I feel spoiled by that, but we SHOULDN’T have to feel spoiled that our civil rights are recognized! There are still 31 states that feel it’s perfectly fine to deny us the rights we’re guaranteed under the Constitution. My civil rights issue here has long been settled; I’d like to work somehow on a larger scale, maybe with a national organization or in the political arena.
But if one person who’s struggling with their dysphoria sees me on the show and sees that it’s perfectly normal for someone from the tribe to appear on the gold standard of game shows, and gets something positive out of it, then that would be a great thing.
Was it tough to keep the results of the show a secret?
Oh hell, yeah! Well, all contestants sign a non-disclosure agreement (that’s a standard practice with game shows), so that took care of that, and most people know that, so I didn’t get a lot of “How did you do?” or “Did you win?” But I kept mum about it for 2 1/2 months (the taping was the first week of August). Most people only found out when I posted the photo of Trebek and me a week ago Monday. (And man, has my social media world exploded!) I might be very vocal and public about many things, but I’m also very good at keeping secrets or keeping things discreet and to-the-vest.
After achieving this huge, bucket list goal, are you feeling motivated to try to make other dreams happen, or are you like, “That’s it. I can coast now …”
Oh, there’s no coasting in my life! The job situation has been bad ever since my first layoff from the Bee in March 2009—long spells of joblessness, then hirings, then layoffs, lather, rinse, repeat. I don’t know sometimes how my family and friends have put up with me for so long. I have an excellent résumé, but I’ve had countless hundreds of non-responses, not even the decency of a “You suck.” And, save for some extraordinary jobs, I’ve been avoiding newspapers; I’ve been looking at online news sites, PR, marketing, and nonprofits. Right now I work part-time at a place where the people are great but the pay is horrendous. Maybe being on the show will convince a prospective employer that I’m actually smart enough to have a meaningful and decent-paying job.
So yes, I’m hoping this opens doors. I’m hoping a great job comes through, or that this appearance will get me into a sphere where I can do much more for civil rights, or maybe a casting director in New York or L.A. will see the show and say “Hey! We like her! We want her!” Or maybe a sugar mama … And now I have, at long last, a logical ending to this book I started working on eight years ago. The opening chapter will be the night of my epiphany—Jan. 9, 2008, sitting on the bed in Fresno—and Jeopardy! will be the final chapter. Now it’s a matter of condensing a whole War and Peace of experiences into a readable book.
So … does Alex Trebek smell like Christmas? He looks like he smells like Christmas.
I hate to disappoint you, but he’s not beginning to smell a lot like Christmas. There was no scent I could discern. Besides, I only was in proximity of him three times: when he posed for the me-and-Alex shots during the first commercial break, when he asked me about myself, and when he came over for the handshake afterward and small-talked with us.
You can catch Fran’s appearance on Jeopardy! tonight on ABC30 at 7 p.m.
I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.
I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.
Fresno? I say FresYES
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