Yesterday I recorded Jeopardy! in two places at my parents’ house because I was afraid something would go wrong. Tonight I recorded Jeopardy! in just one place, and it taped – but with no sound! We had to rely on the closed captioning. I wish my parents would get a DVR. They just want their old TV and cable back. They had to get an LCD TV and digital cable when their traditional TV broke.
Before we watched the show tonight, my little sister wanted to watch some of something else, so she took the Jeopardy! tape out of the VCR. I had checked to see if the show recorded properly, so I knew it was Stefan Goodreau’s 5th game from of his original run on the show. I said as she was taking it out of the VCR, “Whatever you do, don’t let anything happen to that. It’s the ‘Stefan tape.'” And she goes, “The effin’ Stefan tape?” (After we watched the show, she worried that that comment would sound “disparaging” in this blog. I assure you that she did not mean it that way!)
Stefan’s opponents were Emily Bruemmer and John Munson, described as a “gadabout” in his introduction. When this show originally aired, I had to look that word up!
Stefan swept a category called Visualliteration almost right away. The idea was that the two words in the answer started with the same letter, but not the same sound. Sample clue: “Security videos are usually transmitted in this manner, involving no broadcast.”* By the first commercial break, Stefan had 5000, John had 200, and Emily had 1400. Emily found all three Daily Doubles in the game, and answered the one in the Jeopardy round correctly. She wagered just 600, though. Stefan was still leading at the end of the Jeopardy round, with 8400. John had -200, and Emily had 5400. John bounced back after the first category in the Double Jeopardy round, which was all about Bob Dylan. He answered four of the five clues correctly, and at the end of the category had 4600 already.
Emily tied Stefan when she answered the second Daily Double of the Double Jeopardy round correctly in The Aztecs: “The principal food of the Aztecs was a thin cornmeal pancake called a tlaxcalli, this is Spanish.”* Stefan was not in the lead at the end of Double Jeopardy! He had 16400, Emily had 18000, and John had 8200. The Final Jeopardy category was 25 Years and Counting, in honor of Jeopardy!‘s 25th season. This was the clue: “In 2009, she was on a world tour at age 69; when Jeopardy! premiered in September 1984, she had the USA’s number one hit.”* Incidentally, Mr. Trebek said after the think music ended that two of the three contestants were only months old in 1984. Everyone looked pretty young to me; which two do you think he was referring to?
I guessed the same thing as Stefan, and we had it right. My sister guessed Barbra Streisand, which I do not think is a bad guess. We just checked, and Streisand is 68 years old right now. Stefan didn’t wager anything, but it didn’t matter, because Emily wagered 7000, and John could not have beat Stefan even he wagered everything and got it right. (John guessed Cher, and Emily guessed Madonna!) Stefan, then, became a 5-time champion and earned the right to come back for the Tournament of Champions, which ended about a week ago. He made it to the finals, and came in third overall.
Come back Monday to see if reigning champion Aaron Ammerman can win his second game.
*closed circuit, tortilla, Tina Turner