Today’s contestants:
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| Tom Moosbrugger (He’s a library worker! And he’s tall. So I like him.) |
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| Christopher Short (He’s a hugger. And a trivia editor. So I like him.) |
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| Ko Otaka |
The Jeopardy round featured a theme board, with categories like Play Station and Aye, “Pad.”
Did you guys know this triple-stumper in Face Book?: “In Catholic lore, when this female saint wiped the sweat from Jesus’ face with her veil, an image of Him remained there.” It was extra satisfying for me because all three contestants actually rang in and then got it wrong. However, I don’t know about you, but I am a lifelong Catholic and would never identify this person as a “saint.” I’ve just never heard of her referred to in that way in all my Catholic schooling and attendance at Mass.
At the first break, Christopher had 3200, Tom had 2000, and Ko had -400. Ko was still in the hole with -200 when she found the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round, in Jeopardy Platforms. Christopher had 3800 and Tom had 4200. Ko wagered 1000 on this clue: “The Kangshung Face, the North Col, and the Khumbu Icefall are all parts of this dangerous place.” I got it right; she got it wrong. At the end of the Jeopardy round, she was still in the hole with -200, while Christopher had 6000 and Tom had 5800.
Ko was finally on the plus side with 200 when she found the first Daily Double of the Double Jeopardy round. It was the second clue chosen of the round. Christopher had 6000 and Tom had 5800. Ko wisely wagered 2000 on this clue in Architecture: “This British architectural style began with the accession of Henry VII in the late 15th century.” She got it right immediately.
Did you guys know this triple-stumper in Not What It Sounds Like?: “The area or subject covered by 19th c. writer Bret when he was a reporter (5,4).” What about this one in The Moguls & the Movies?: “Starting in 1915, Carl Laemmle built this ‘city’ named for his studio, complete with its own mayor and fire department.”
Ko found the next Daily Double, too, in Poetic Questions. She had made quite a comeback and had 8200, but the guys were still leading her, Christopher with 14400 and Tom with 12600. Ko wagered 2000 on this clue: “This poet innocently wondered, ‘Little lamb, who made thee?'” She missed it.
By the end of the round only a few clues later, Tom had somehow added 5600 to his total to make 18200. Christopher still had 14400, and Ko had 6200. The Final Jeopardy category was World Geography. This was the clue: “These 3 nations each border the world’s largest and smallest oceans.” (See the end of this entry for Mr. Trebek’s explanation.) As I anticipated, Mr. Trebek urged the contestants to write quickly. It didn’t matter; all of them got it wrong. Ko had two of the correct answers, but crossed them off and wrote something else. She had wagered all of her money. Christopher lost 4000. Tom lost 10601, enough to make Christopher a two-day champion.
My Coryat score tonight was 16800. I rocked the Jeopardy round, but the Double Jeopardy round killed me. My best categories were Face Book, Handheld, and Online (which I swept). My worst were every category in the Double Jeopardy round except Not What It Sounds Like. Christopher’s Coryat score was 14400, Ko’s was 8000, and poor Tom’s was 18200.
Mr. Trebek said of the correct Final response: “The largest ocean is the Pacific. The smallest is the Arctic, so Russia, the United States because of Alaska, and of course, Canada.”