Local Folks: Sam Mitchell

Sam Mitchell discovered his true passion on somewhat of a whim. He was playing trivia one night at a local business and, upon meeting the owner, asked if he could host a game.

 “I thought it would be fun,” Mitchell said. “I like being the center of attention.”

His first gig was in Riverside. Mitchell couldn’t believe he was getting paid to do something he thought was so much fun – it was completely different from his day-to-day job of working in IT.

 “I’m more of a jester of a person,” Mitchell said.

One gig was all it took for Mitchell to be hooked.

He worked with that company for about eight years before venturing out on his own. He’s owned IKnowIt Trivia for two years.

 “That’s where the passion lies,” Mitchell said.

He chose to do things a little differently once he was out on his own. His questions are slightly harder, but he also gives a hint in every song that’s played. It usually correlates to the question. He also incorporates picture rounds and question rounds.

 “I think trivia should be accessible to everyone and not just smart people,” Mitchell said. “So, I try to hit all target markets.”

He loves seeing families participate, because each person usually has a different knowledge set they can share with the team: the dad who knows history and the teenage daughter who’s into pop culture.

 “It’s like a little bonding moment for them,” he said.

He also enjoys seeing people link up and build friendships through trivia nights.

 “I’ve actually married four teams,” Mitchell said.

His favorite thing is when two teams who don’t know each other create a rivalry and end up becoming friends.

He currently hosts 11 full-time trivia shows and has a few others that are monthly and quarterly. He has five hosts on his team who do shows mainly in the San Marco and Riverside areas, but also has ones in Gate Parkway and Neptune Beach.

Along with his own trivia company, Mitchell, along with his brother, Mac, were also on a trivia game show hosted by HBO based on the TV show “Friends.” HBO created a game show to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show. It was called “Fast Friends” and was hosted by Whitney Cummings.

 “It’s 1,000 percent different than you would ever think,” Mitchell said. “To see the inner workings of it all was fascinating.”

The show flew Mitchell and his brother to New York for a week of filming. After he found out about the game show on TikTok, Mitchell signed up to participate. Truth be told, he was not a huge “Friends” fan. However, Mitchell was able to answer all three questions the recruiter asked him correctly.

 “I was like, ‘Oh we’re about to get found out,’” Mitchell said. “But somehow my brother knew all the answers to the questions that were asked as well.”

After they were selected for the show, they had about three months to prepare. When the show aired, they had a watch party and about 60 people showed up.

 “It was fun,” he added.

While he might be known as a trivia host around town, some might also recognized him as the “donut guy.” Mitchell is the guy who passes out donuts at mile three of the Gate River Run. Last year, he passed out 2,700 donut holes to runners.

 “I’ve been doing that about 12 years now,” Mitchell said. “I’m the donut guy.”

It all started because his friend was running the race one year and he thought it would be funny to taunt him with donuts.

 “People took them, and I ran out in like five seconds,” Mitchell said.

What started as a joke has now become a yearly thing. He sets up a speaker, plays music, and uses a microphone to heckle the runners as they pass by.

 “We still run out every year,” Mitchell said. “It’s my Christmas morning. I wake up at like 5 a.m. without an alarm, ready to go.”