and I'm an aspiring Game Show host. I just started college a month ago and for one of our classes, media literacy, we have to create blogs about what we learned in class. So now that I have been introduced into the blogging world I thought, why not give it a shot and create my own blog? Who knows, maybe some day I will get recognized for it.
So let's start with a quick biography. My name is Jake Spartz, I'm 18 from a small town in Minnesota. We are known as the turtle racing capital of the world. (were a tourist town) Sounds weird, well it is. The population of our town is 150 people so when I say small, I mean it. I live with my mom and dad (Jenn and Dave) and my sister Sara. I graduated from Northland High School in May 2012 with the honors of Valedictorian. My graduating class consisted of about 24 people. I currently attend The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN and absolutly love it! I'm majoring in communications. (Hopefully its the right path to becoming a game show host!)
I don't know what it is but I love absolutly everything about games and gameshows! I love the entertainment, the joy, and the thrills brought with them. They have strong roots through out my life. I learned my alphabet by watching Wheel of Fortune, I would watch the Price is Right everyday the first two years of my life with my grandma, and I would freak out anytime a gameshow was turned on. We have a video of me, right when I first started talking, awarding people new cars and cash payouts for "playing my games." (Little did I know they had no idea what the game was) My mom told me I used to get frustrated when they wouldn't understand what they were supposed to do. So games had a huge impact during my developmental years.
I think their is one huge day that literally changed my life. On February 1st, 2001 my parents called my sister and I out of our rooms (we were playing a game) to come check out this show on t.v. I come out and see people in shorts and tanktops in what looked like a desert like setting. I asked what it was. They told me it's a show where people have to live in the wild and play challenges. It was none other than Survivor. I was instantly hooked. When I found out it was a weekly show I demanded that we watch it every week, and we did. I have never missed an episode of Survivor since.
So Survivor comes into my life and it's huge. We would play it with friends, discuss it, and sometimes watch it together. When I was in 6th grade my parents hosted a football party. There were about ten kids there. We tried to play Survivor. It didn't really work but then it hit me... what if I planned my own Survivor party? I asked my mom and she said yes.
I got to work and planned all year. Then the day came. On September 28th 2006, I hosted my first Survivor Backyard. 8 contestants (my friends), split into two teams, competed in a two day Survivor event. We filmed the event and it was great fun. Challenges included a giant sudoku and a token blindfold game. The age range was from 7th-5th grade so strategies wern't all there but we needed a start.
With the first year being a success we did it again. Season 2 added 3 more players, for a total of 11. We added exile island and threw in a few twists. Again we filmed it and made DVD's out of it.
Fast Forward to August 5th, 2012. Survivor Backyard: The Seperation Effect was about to take place. It was my 7th season. The game had come so far from where it orginally started. At this point we had 14 contestants, T-shirts with the Survivor logo, crazy twists, amazing blindsides and backstabs, and great game play. It is as close to the show as you can possibly get. It has become pretty famous in our town, almost everyone knows about it.
Over the years of Survivor I have created and hosted 7 seasons, 103 challenges, 78 tribal councils and about 26 people have participated. Challenges have included a prarie maze, a giant skee-ball game, the wheel of bait, and a gruling 1.5 mile race through the woods collecting tires to form a puzzle. I could tell more but that will probably be for a different day (im working on making a wiki page of all the seasons)
On top of hosting my Survivor Backyard I have hosted several events in our community. This includes the pep rally games at our School, Amazing Race events for my track team, Minute to Win it games for community groups, Birthday Parties, Teacher Fear Factor, and many more. My best accomplishment will always be Survivor.
So i'm not really sure what it is but I have such a deep passion for hosting and creating gameshows that I have no other option then to host one. I love seeing people have fun. When I see people play my games and be able to laugh is the best feeling in the world. You know you have done something right when they talk about it for months after.
It is my goal in life to become a game show host and I will accomplish it. I'm not sure what it's going to take but maybe, just maybe, this blog will help me get there.
