Getting on Jeopardy!, or running a marathon? Some days I think the latter would be easier! (In case you’ve not figured it out, Andy’s blogging today. An average show for me today at 36 right, 3 wrong, and a Coryat of $22,000).
Alex opened the show by mentioning that champion Judy Nichols’ anniversary was on Friday; Judy’s challengers today are Trevor Bryan and Michelle Lalonde. I thought Trevor looked quite dapper in his bow tie today!
The opening round’s categories: THE ELIZABETHAN ERA, IT’S USEFUL IN THE KITCHEN, 2 Zs PLEASE, BEHIND THE SONGS, WORDS ON A FACEBOOK PAGE, and “THE” NOVEL. BEHIND THE SONGS disappointed me, if only because it’s now 5 questions that I won’t be able to use as final questions at my pub quiz!
Michelle seemed pretty nervous to open, especially with her stumbling over category names. Judy had the game’s first mistake (THE ELIZABETHAN ERA $400: By the time this circumnavigator reached the Pacific in 1578, only his flagship remained of the 5 that left England), leading to Michelle seeing the first Daily Double (the $600 clue, same category. She bet all of her $1,000 (Trevor had $200, Judy $-400) and saw the following clue: In 1598 Thomas Bodley began rebuilding this school’s library with his own money & books. Though she stumbled on the phrasing (seemingly a product of her nerves), she doubled her score.
At the first break, the scoreboard showed Michelle at 3000, Trevor close behind at 2600, and Judy recovering from her early neg to get back to 0.
Judy’s interview about “running a marathon” being the only item left on her bucket list made me wonder if running a marathon would be an easier task than getting on Jeopardy!; after all, running a marathon isn’t dependent on others!
After the break, Trevor got a buzzer rhythm going and started about building up his scores. I found his knowledge base to be quite impressive in both this and the Double Jeopardy! round.
Fortunately, my knowledge of water polo helped on the following Triple Stumper in the opening round (IT’S USEFUL IN THE KITCHEN $800): The name of this hand-operated rotary device is also a kick useful in treading water (water polo players use this kick all the time to tread water; not that I could do it myself!).
At the end of 28 clues (probably because of Michelle’s nervous stalling early), we had Trevor leading at $6,600; Michelle had $4,400 and Judy $1,000.
The Double Jeopardy! categories: EVENTS AROUND THE USA, EXTREME ANIMALS, QUOTE “UN”QUOTE, NAACP SPINGARN MEDAL WINNERS, GREAT DEPRESSIONS, and 1930s COMEDIES.
Judy got a chance to bring herself into the game, when the third clue of the round (QUOTE “UN”QUOTE $1200) was out of Invictus: In 1875 William Ernest Henley wrote “Under the blodgeonings of chance my head is bloody, but” this (Trevor ventured “unharmed”, Michelle “unbroken”). Under the $1600 clue was the Daily Double, and Judy’s correct response earlier saw her face this with $2,200 (Michelle had $3,200 and Trevor $6,200). She bet $1500 and saw the following: Carl Gustav Jung said that this “is not just evil by nature, it is also the source of the highest good”. Her response of “unselfishness” saw her fall to $700.
Once again, the middle of the round saw Trevor find his buzzer mojo, going 4/5 in EXTREME ANIMALS and building up an excellent all-Coryat score of $14,600.
Michelle may have been spooked by the fact that the $400 and $800 clues in GREAT DEPRESSIONS were Triple Stumpers, because the $1200 clue was the Daily Double. When she saw it, Michelle had $6,800 to Judy’s $7500 and Trevor’s $14,600. A rather conservative wager of $1,800 was met with the following clue: “Part of the Great Basin, the Carson Sink is in this Western U.S. state”. She got it instantly.
Michelle did have the game sense to move to the bottom of 1930s COMEDIES while trailing near the end, but it seemed like more of Judy’s category, as Judy snuck into second place at the end-of-round signal.
Going into Final Jeopardy (category 2011 MEMOIRS), the scores were: Michelle $10,600 Judy $11,100 Trevor $14,600.
The clue: He titled his 2011 memoire “Harold: The Boy Who Became Mark Twain”.
My best guess, having no idea on the question itself, was Harold Pinter.
Michelle and Judy both knew the answer. However, Judy originally wrote “Samuel Clemons” and failed to cross out the Samuel before writing the rest of her answer, leading to her response being ruled not acceptable. I expect the official Jeopardy! board will have plenty of indignant single-time posters claiming that Judy was robbed. Trevor’s response of “Who is Harry?” led to Michelle being the new Jeopardy! champion; let’s hope she’s less nervous for her title defense tomorrow!
Michelle 10600 + 7900 = 18500
Judy 11100 – 10000 = 1100
Trevor 14600 – 8000 = 6600
Jeanie’ll be blogging tomorrow; I’ll be back on Wednesday!
What’s easier?
