Andy: Hey! A little bit from Andy here before we hear from Jeanie. I wrote the Pacific online test tonight, and good news, for those hoping I follow Jeanie’s footsteps onto the show: I’m pretty sure that I passed this one!
I knew the test was going to go well, when in the first 8 questions, there wre 2 literature questions in the small subset of “works I’ve actually read”. In fact, going through the transcript, I was cruising with 18 of the first 19 right. While later on in the test, I had some “dumb Canadian” mistakes like “forgetting which Dakota Mount Rushmore is in” and “having no idea which airline merged with Continental”, I think I ended up with a total of 41! Now to wait to hopefully get an audition for Toronto this time around! Another good sign with this test: I got 6 of the 8 literature questions in total (lifetime in LearnedLeague, I’m 6 for 25). I also noticed on J! Board that someone mentioned a complete dearth of sports questions on this one, which is in fact rare!
Onto what you all really care about, though, Jeanie’s recap! But still, woohoo!
Jeanie: Andy and I got an e-mail today from a Gina Marks. I told her we’d pass on this information, but I don’t know much more than this and can’t vouch for its authenticity. (This was from her second e-mail, with the words she wanted in our post.):
“Innovative new TV game show seeks EXTRAORDINARY MINDS on various topics. Almost any subject-matter will be considered, but topic should be fairly broad (i.e., U.S. Presidents vs. only Lincoln, Dogs vs. only Poodles, Food or Fast Food vs. contemporary American, etc.) You do not need to be a professional in your field of expertise, but your knowledge should be unmatched! Prime-time. Top 4 major TV Network. Life-changing cash prize! 21+. Apply to: gmarkscasting@gmail.com“
As for today’s show:
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| Natalie Hudson of Houston TX |
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| Kristin Morgan of Huntsville AL (Hey, she’s wearing stripes again!) |
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| Parker East of Tallahassee FL |
When I went to the Hometown Howdy page earlier this week, I thought Natalie looked exactly like Steven Tyler.
Kristin is defending today for the first time, but you’d never know it from her flat expression. I’d like to see a little life in her. And she took a long time to select clues today. I did notice she was looking up at the board as Mr. Trebek was talking about her performance in yesterday’s game. Was anyone else surprised by her voice today, even though we saw her yesterday? It was squeakier than I remember.
Mr. Trebek said at the first break it was a “very close game.” Both the scores and the number of correct responses showed it: Kristin and Parker had gotten 4 right each and both had 2800. Natalie had gotten 6 right but only had 2200.
How weird was Parker’s interview? I don’t know what he was talking about.
How about this one in Americana?: “Sandy Hook Light, the USA’s oldest standing lighthouse, still operates in this state.” It was a triple-stumper. I said “Connecticut” and thought I was right.
The next clue was the Daily Double, and it belonged to Parker. He had gotten 5 right and one wrong since the break and had 4400. Kristin had gotten 2 right and one wrong and had 3600. Natalie had gotten one right and had 400. Parker wagered 2000 on this softball in Movie Taglines: “2000: ‘She brought a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.'” He got it.
Mr. Trebek said “Close game!” again at the end of the round. Parker had gotten one wrong since his Daily Double and had 5400. Kristin had gotten 2 right and had 5000. Natalie had gotten 3 right and had 5600.
The first Daily Double was the second clue of the round. Kristin had answered the first clue of the round correctly, and she had 5400. She wagered 2000 on this clue in Historical Online Check-ins: “1485: @ Bosworth Field, leading my side against those wretched Tudors & I need a ride desperately.” Kristin got it right immediately.
Poor Diana Ross – I wonder why Kristin thought she was dead when she gave that response to this clue in 2012 In Memoriam: “In May music fans mourned the death of Robin Gibb & this disco queen.” It was a triple-stumper, and I got it right. I also got this triple-stumper in the same category: “In summer 2012 the Monkees announced their first tour since the death of this bandmate in February.”
This clue in 4-Letter World Capitals reminded me of this one (South America for 400), from the rerun that aired this past weekend: “The name of this city comes from the Quechua word Rimac, & it’s on the Rimac River.”
When Parker found the next Daily Double in 4-Letter World Capitals, Mr. Trebek said he’d “been silent for a little bit.” He’d gotten one right and one wrong and had 6600. Kristin had gotten 4 right and the one wrong and had 10200. Natalie had gotten one right and had 6800. Parker wagered 5000 on this clue: “Suva, the capital of this island nation, is a shipping & commercial center of the South Pacific.” Parker got it right, handily.
This clue in Possessive Book Titles reminded me of a clue in last night’s online test: “The finale of the Millennium trilogy: ‘The Girl Who Kicked the ______’s Nest.'” I misread the test clue and said “Larsson,” but I didn’t know the trilogy was “Millennium” anyway. I didn’t notice til now, the second time through, that I misread this one too. One more neg for me. I know I said “dragon.”
I said what Natalie did on this one in “Ward” of the Day: “Honest & direct.” Apparently that’s what Parker and Kristin thought too, because they looked like they were trying to ring in when Natalie got in first, and no one rang in after she did.
At the end of the round, Kristin had 13000 after answering 4 right and one wrong since Parker’s Daily Double. Parker got 7 right and 3 wrong, and had 16400. Natalie had gotten 4 right and 2 wrong, and had 9600.
The Final Jeopardy category was Legal Terms. This was the cruddy clue: “This term for a type of decision is from Old French for ‘to speak the truth.'” I speak French and tried to come up with a legal term/decision that used “verite,” but didn’t. So I was irked when Mr. Trebek said, “If you knew the French word for ‘truth’ was ‘verite,’ it might’ve helped you.” Not so much! This was a triple-stumper. Mr. Trebek thought Natalie had written her response “rather confidently.” She lost 3401. Kristin must’ve meant to wager to have 6800 left, expecting Parker to make the traditional cover bet. But she wagered one dollar too much. Parker did get it wrong too, so he and Kristin tied for
the win. Mr. Trebek said then, “And Natalie, nice try.”
Yesterday I watched the episode without keeping score. I should’ve done that today. In fact I’m gonna pretend I did and not even share my score. My head wasn’t in it!