Two recent Coryats from GSN reruns:
originally 1-1-09: 20800 (22600 without negs)
originally 1-2-09: 24400 (27800 without negs)
So my friend Robert tells me that reruns from March 2012 are airing, beginning this weekend. He’s gonna keep me posted as to whether my own episode will rerun. Enough said, for now.
Now for a Summer Hiatus Challenge update: Actually no one I’m following has made the SHC Tournament of Champions, but reader Neville Fogarty has, in the rookie slot. Neville’s had a red-letter day – he constructed a crossword puzzle that appears in Friday’s L.A. Times. Go Neville!
After today’s recap, a Q & A with Alison Parakh! Soon, a Q & A with Vamsi Adusumilli.
Today’s contestants:
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| Erin Zwiener of Abiquiu NM |
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| Natalie Knowles of Raleigh NC |
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| Peter Hansen of New York NY |
Now, Erin‘s been a member of the message boards since she was asking about what to wear at an audition. It doesn’t seem like that long ago. It’s so nice to see that she made it, she won, and she’s making good choices of clothing. Actually all three contestants looked nice today.
You know how Mr. Trebek said he thought Johnny mispronounced “Albuquerque” yesterday? Well I thought when I saw Erin’s Hometown Howdy that “Abiquiu” was just some kind of nickname for “Albuquerque.”
Peter found the first Daily Double only 4 clues in. He, Erin, and Natalie had each gotten one clue right. Peter and Erin each had 200 and Natalie had 1000. Peter wagered 1000 on this clue in Official Languages: “In the republic of Cyprus: these 2 languages.” Peter wasted no time answering correctly! I could tell I’d better hurry, and I got it wrong.
I did get this triple-stumper in The Constitutional Convention: “Elbridge Gerry from this state refused to sign the Constitution because in it ‘liberties…were not secured.'” I have to admit I wasn’t sure and sighed with relief a little when Erin’s and Natalie’s guesses were wrong.
Am I weird not to know who “The Father of the Constitution” was, or the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention (and at 200)? I put those on the first poll of the new season. By the way, I put a couple clues on there that I got right, too!
I swept Singers “R” Us.
Both Peter and Natalie needed prompting to finish responses today. Mr. Trebek said to Peter “…these 2 numbers…” when he just gave one response on this one in Now a Few Words: “According to Merriam-Webster, ‘take’ followed by either of these 2 numbers means to take a break.” To be honest I’m still not sure what this title of this category was about. May kinda like “Potpourri”? This was the last clue before the break. Peter had gotten 7 right and 1 wrong since his Daily Double, and had 4400. Erin had gotten 2 right and 1 wrong and had 400. Natalie had gotten 1 right and 2 wrong and had 600.
Peter drew a laugh when he said “animal husbandry” in response to this clue in Now a Few Words: “It means raising livestock or crops, though it sounds like the art of making your wife happy.” You know, Peter probably should’ve been counted right because he said the correct response before Mr. Trebek said “no.” But Erin picked it up. Maybe she was a little flustered then, but she started selecting the next clue with, “What is…”. I’m not sure she even noticed. I’m glad I didn’t do that. Then she didn’t say the whole category, so I was a little flustered wondering what I was looking for in the clue. This was a trick I was going to use myself, actually, when I was on the show. I got it right today. 😉
I got this triple-stumper in, once again, Now a Few Words: “The use of these 2 letters joined together, as in alternate spellings of words like encyclopedia, is called an ash.”
Erin swept Whale Watching in Baja to close out the round, but no one clapped! Anyway she’d gotten 7 right since the break and had 5000. Peter had gotten 6 right and 1 wrong, and had 5600. Natalie had gotten 1 right and had 1600. So imagine if Peter had been counted right on the “husbandry” clue and Erin hadn’t had a chance to pick it up.
When Erin found the first Daily Double of Double Jeopardy in Prologues, she had 9000. She’d gotten 3 right and 1 wrong. Peter had 7200, having gotten 1 right (“The Fairly Oddparents”). Natalie had 2800 after getting 2 right. Erin wagered 3000 on this clue: “A prologue by this author says, ‘I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe.'” I inserted a couple of extra letters in my response. 🙁 Erin got it right.
I said what Peter did on this one in It’s the Math or Science Law: “The second law of this 19th century botanist is the law of independent assortment.” Silly Mr. Trebek teased Peter that he’d added extra letters, only to read this clue next in the same category: “Mendeleev’s law is also called this law, a word found before ‘table of elements.'”
Natalie found the next Daily Double in State by Counties, after having been relatively quiet for a while. She had gotten 2 right since Erin’s Daily Double, and had 6800. Peter had gotten 4 right and 2 wrong and had 9600. Erin had gotten 9 right but 3 wrong, and still had 19600. Natalie wagered 2000 on this clue, just after Mr. Trebek said there was a minute left to go in the round: “2 states, please: Franklin, Crockett, Knox.” Like Peter before her, Natalie calmly gave one response, incorrect anyway, and looked at Mr. Trebek. He said, “I needed two states.” She added another correct one but of course it wasn’t enough.
I loved how the contestants were racing to see the rest of the clues, but time ran out despite their efforts, with 3 clues left on the board. Erin had gotten 1 right since Natalie’s Daily Double. Erin had 21200. Peter had gotten 4 right and had 13200. Natalie still had 4800.
The Final Jeopardy category was The Oscars. This was the clue: “The only remake of a U.S. film to win Best Picture; the original was made in the 1920s, the Oscar-winning remake in the 1950s.” When Mr. Trebek said the word “Biblical” before revealing contestant responses, I thought I might be right. I wasn’t. I’ve gone 0/5 this week on Finals. All three contestants missed today’s too. I’ll be curious to see how this one polls. Natalie lost 4700. Peter said the same thing she did and lost 8001. Erin lost 5201, which is plenty to keep her around for Monday. My Coryat was 28000 (31000 without negs).
Now, for Alison Parakh! Alison
played on the last day of season 28 and the first day of season 29.
Q: What was the Stevie Wonder song that helped your finish your first marathon? Also, I was a little surprised that your first marathon was the New York City one!
A: The Stevie Wonder song was “I Wish.” we lived in the Northeast at the time when the NYC marathon was still doing a lottery for some of the spots, and we entered on a whim. Both my husband and I did the race – my first, his second marathon.
Q: A reader wants to know what things were like around the set on the first day of season 29. Also, he wants to know how Mr. Trebek was feeling after his heart attack?
A: Around the set – I didn’t notice much different, just the usual good energy and excitement to be back. Alex seemed to be in fine spirits.
Q: As for your second episode, do you remember why you chose to start with Giving a Pup Talk in Double Jeopardy?
A: I chose Pup Talk because I thought it might relate to dog breeds, much as I thought Net Flicks in my first show would be about basketball films.
Q: You appeared to say something when Mr. Trebek talked about your Final Jeopardy response. Do you remember what it was?
A: Can’t recall what I said during FJ except I recall feeling that my mind blanked out – I knew Australia was wrong, but couldn’t think of anything else.
Q: You said you read as much as you could in the weeks after your first win. What kinds of things did you read?
A: Reading-I try to read the newspaper daily, I also tried to look up some history websites, and believe it or not, did study an atlas, but in retrospect, would have been better off reading TV Guide (or watching more tv).
Q: Is there anything else you want to say?
A: All in all, it was a lot of fun (except for losing, of course), and I met some amazing folks during the 2 days I taped.
Thank you, Alison!
I’ve kept silent about this, largely because I don’t want people to think that I feel badly about this (I don’t), but I have an explanation for Alex’s comment to Erin after Final Jeopardy.
The answer was edited after the fact. As read to us on the show, instead of “U.S. Film”, it was “Biblical Epic”. It was pointed out to the staff that Ben Hur was not, in fact, a biblical epic (being a work of fiction).
So, since Erin’s answer of “All Quiet on the Western Front” (written about the WWI), didn’t fit the category, Alex’s comment makes sense. Of course, my answer of “Cleopatra” was wrong and I knew it even as I wrote it down. If you watch closely, you can see that I thought of “Ben Hur” just as time ran out. Stuff like that happens. That’s why it’s a game. I had a great time, met a bunch of great people and recommend the experience to anyone who understands the risks.