Fifteen celebrity contestants tackling trivia about Washington, D.C., competing for their favorite charities—it’s Jeopardy! Power Players.

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“I've been watching Jeopardy for the last few months. And I've gotten so into it. And my wife will ask me what's the weather like and I say what is a high pressure zone. I'm just like totally wired for this show now,” said New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Before the taping started, nearly all of the players confessed to being nervous.

“I'm worried about this buzzer. That's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about clicking in too fast or too slow. I don't know,” said journalist and talk show host Anderson Cooper.

Comedian Lewis Black is already warning his coworkers at "The Daily Show" not to tease him.

“It's for charity. I'm going to embarrass myself for charity. And if I make a big mistake and they make fun of it, there will be hell to pay,” said comedian and “Daily Show” contributor Black.

During commercial breaks, Alex Trebek took questions from the audience—many of them were self-described super fans.

“I program my life around Jeopardy. Everybody knows not to call me at 7:30 because I'm watching Jeopardy,” said Jeopardy! fan Michele Higgs.

“I'm terrible about calling out the answers to the clues. I was warned not to do that tonight,” said fan Janet Utman.

Throughout the show, Alex Trebek refers to the show's judges but who are they exactly? Well, just off stage sits the Executive Producer, head writer and other senior producers. They even have a stack of dictionaries and reference books if they have a tough call to make. And depending on the answer, they'll either give Alex a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

“Especially when you have very very smart people and if they have a certain expertise, we have to really take it very seriously because it could affect the outcome of the game,” said Jeopardy! Executive Producer Harry Friedman.

The winner of each round collected $50,000 in charity money. The runners-up each got $10,000.

“If I lose again, I'm a big jeopardy loser. You lose all your credibility. No, well, I don't know how much credibility I have but I lose whatever I have,” Anderson Cooper said.

Win or lose, Jeopardy! Power Players will air on ABC7 starting May 14th.