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Dan LaBoyne is the guy that people want on their team on trivia night.
The Greenlawn resident is a pop-culture trivia buff and a brainiac when it comes to random facts.
“During the pandemic in 2020, my wife and I watched a lot of reality TV game shows and I always have a weird knowledge of a lot of pop culture,” LaBoyne said. “For some reason, I always can keep those random facts and information in my brain … It really doesn’t benefit me for anything other than just bar trivia or a game show.”
LaBoyne’s trivia knowledge has paid off, for he now has the opportunity to test his smarts on Season 2 of the NBC game show, “Weakest Link.”
His episode airs on June 13 at 10 p.m.
Story continues after photo.
Hosted by actress Jane Lynch, “Weakest Link” is a quiz show that is a mix of elements from “Jeopardy” and “Survivor.”
Eight contestants work together, answering seven rounds of questions as they build up their winnings.
Money is added to the pot for every question they get right and sinks to zero any time an answer is wrong. As contestants falter, their spot in the game is put at risk.
Each round ends with voting one contestant off — the weakest link — and the last one standing wins all the prize money.
LaBoyne is a fan of the show and would always answer the questions at home while watching.
When casting opened up for “Weakest Link,” he submitted his information on NBC’s website and didn’t expect anything to happen, he said.
He heard back from an NBC representative and began the audition process.
“The process was three virtual Zoom meetings, one was a get-to-know-you, passing you through from stage to stage, and then an audition where there was a mock quiz, and I passed through all the stages,” LaBoyne said. “They eventually wanted me to come on.”
2020’s Weakest Link is a reboot of the original series from the early 2000s, LaBoyne said.
LaBoyne filmed his episode in June 2021 and was flown out to California for the two-day process.
He remarked on how interesting it was to get a behind-the-scenes look into how the game show comes together.
“It’s a huge production, there are a ton of producers and employees working on the show, to make sure everything gets done perfectly and how they want it,” he said. “It took about five hours to film from start to finish … Jane was really nice. Even though she comes off as stern on TV, she was awesome.”
LaBoyne said it was impressive to watch Lynch’s professionalism and comedic timing. He said he even got to banter with Lynch a little bit about Long Island traffic.
Because of pandemic concerns at the time, there was no live audience, but that didn’t hinder LaBoyne’s once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Now that it’s been a year, I just want to get it over with and watch myself,” he laughed. “It was an amazing experience.”
Catch Dan LaBoyne on Season 2 Episode 11 of “Weakest Link” on June 13.
Watch this video here to learn more about the show’s premise.
Featured photo: Jane Lynch and contestants on Weakest Link Episode 7 “Who’s Smartphone Wishes It Had A Smarter Owner?” Photo by Chris Haston/NBC | 2020 NBCUniversal Media, LLC.
