The wait’s almost over – My interview with Stefan Goodreau will publish beginning tomorrow.
Now for a mini-bummer (relative to other mishaps still fresh in my mind). There will be no contestant photos here today. As happens sometimes, I’m having picture-message issues with my phone. Today I’m not able to send one at all – I get a “memory full” message at the screen where I’d enter the receiver’s phone number or e-mail address. You’re probably telling me to erase something. I have. Everything. Even incoming and outgoing messages. Don’t get me wrong – I am thankful to have seen today’s game at all, as it was pre-empted for my friend Robert in Florida.
You may remember that Friday’s episode was a bit of a debacle, especially in Double Jeopardy. We all did better today, though there were still 5 quadruple-stumpers in Double Jeopardy, 4 of ’em in the 2000 row. The contestants: Elizabeth Weichel, Art Hilliker, and Dave Leach, a champion twice over coming into today. Dave selected the first clue today with as much zip as he exhibited the whole episode Friday. He got the first three clues right, then found the Daily Double in the same category, Prefixes. He wagered everything, naturally, on this clue: “‘Anti-‘ means ‘against’; ‘ante-‘ means this.” I was shocked when Dave missed this one, which seemed like a softball to me. I swept this category.
At the first break, we had not heard from Elizabeth yet. Dave had 4000 and Art had 2400.
I groaned when The Superbowl’s Top Rusher was revealed, and I groaned again when it was selected as the second-to-last category. I only got one right, but I made up for it by sweeping Recent Books, including this triple-stumper, the last clue of the round: “Book club alert — ‘Then Came You’ is the latest novel by this author of ‘Good in Bed’ and ‘In Her Shoes’.” This after not knowing the response to today’s tweeted clue.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Mr. Trebek told Elizabeth to select again even though there were not clues left on the board. What could he have been looking at? I’m a little surprised they didn’t delete that part. At this point, Dave had 5600, Art had 7000, and Elizabeth had 1000.
Dave found a Daily Double early again in this round, three clues in. The category was That “Bit” at the End. Dave had 6400, Art had 7000, and Elizabeth had 1400. I thought Dave should’ve made this a true Daily Double, as it was early and he’d be spotted three letters in the correct response. He wagered plenty still, 5000, on this clue: “Psychological term meaning to consciously or unconsciously restrain an impulse.” Dave and I both stared at the clue until time ran out.
I didn’t know my response to this next clue was not a word til I had to look it up to be sure. I knew my Coryat was a little too high! Also in That “Bit” in the End: “So you and Amy found a place together–Mind if I ask, are you going to get married or just do this?”
My most irritating neg of the game came in States’ Highest Points. I’ve been reading books that became Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winners or nominees. I knew immediately where I’d read the words “Mount Magazine” in this clue, but missed it anyway: “Mount Magazine, which has Ozark National Forest land on its slopes.” This project wasn’t supposed to work that way. I said what Dave did, thrown off I suppose by “Ozark.” Elizabeth picked this one up, and she got this next one I also negged on: “Granite Peak in Custer National Forest.”
Like Mr. Trebek, I was amazed no one picked up this one after Dave gave an incorrect response in Sculpture: “In 1482, he asked the Duke of Milan for a job, saying, ‘I can further execute sculpture in marble, bronze, or clay.” I guessed the same thing Dave did! Lucky for him, the next clue was the Daily Double, in the same category. He had 7800, Art had 9400, and Elizabeth had 3800. He wagered 2500 on this clue: “He carved a bust of Lincoln for the U.S. Capitol rotunda; his much bigger one is in South Dakota.” I knew this one cold, and Dave got it after a second or two.
At the end of the round, Dave had 11900, Art had 13000, and Elizabeth had 7000. The Final Jeopardy category was ‘70s Oscars. This was the clue: “This film whose title refers to an establishment holds the record for most wins, 8, without winning Best Picture.” I couldn’t come up with this one. Elizabeth had it wrong too and wagered 3000. (I’d have wagered 3800.) Dave had it right and wagered 2101, in an apparent attempt to at least be ahead of Elizabeth if she doubled. Lucky for Dave, Art had it wrong, making Dave a three-time champ. Art lost 12900 on the Final. Not that it mattered in the end, but why did he wager so much?
My Coryat was 22400. My Coryat for this episode which aired Saturday on GSN was 14400. My Coryat for Sunday‘s was 20400. I’ll be on the edge of my seat at 1:00 a.m. tonight to find out which episode will be on!
Mistake of the Ozarks
