Before today’s recap, a Jeopardy! family member, Vince Gatton, needs our help: He tweeted on Wednesday that he’s raising money for his aunt and her son, who have recently lost their jobs and have hefty medical bills. (Details here.) Come on Jeopardy! fans, let’s unite and help them make their goal, shall we? And by the way, I’d not have gotten this clue on a recent rerun if I hadn’t had to look up “George Bailey” in Vince’s tweet (in Movies on my Tivo DVR): “Angels talking about George Bailey/I can’t stand to watch that Mr. Potter/An angel gets his wings.” Incidentally it was the only clue I got in the category, despite having review this one for the blog. (Heck, I could write a whole post about each of these episodes! I’ve had a lot to say.)
So, is Julie gonna make it two today? Let’s find out. Today’s contestants:
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| Shelly Green of Woodmere, NY |
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| Julie Bratvold Ghanbari of San Diego, CA (She has a degree from MIT!) |
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| Mike McStravick of Houston, TX |
Mr. Trebek kicked off the show by announcing that there will be a Back-to-School Week beginning in another week and a half. My friend Robert tells me these are new episodes.
Mike found the Daily Double of the round before the first break. We’d seen 2 clues where 2 contestants negged. Mike had gotten 5 right and 1 neg and had 2800. Julie had 2 negs and 2 right, and had 200. Shelly had 1 neg and 2 right, and had 600. Mike wagered 1200 on this clue in Money Talks: “This type of variable income tax increases as the amount to be taxed increases.” Mike got it right but as for me, this was the first of all 3 Daily Doubles where I’d never even heard of the material in the clue or the response. Shelly got 2 more right and had 2400 before the first break.
Weird coincidence – I ran out of time during the commercial break to transfer mine of these from my computer to my phone (in Photography): “Types of these cards used in digital cameras include MicroSD, SDHC & Compactflash.”
Now, if there’s been a contestant slower to select than Julie, I sure don’t know who it is. (To be fair, Mike was very slow, too.) I don’t understand this – I mean the contestant coordinators drill it into your head and practically plead with you to select quickly. I mean, I’d almost be afraid not to. And why were Julie and Mike so wary of Rhyme Hub? It’s an easy 5/5. Julie seemed to drag out selecting from there as if maybe she wouldn’t have to if she did. And Mike never did seem to be having a good time. We did manage to finish the round. At the end of the round, Shelly had gotten 4 right since the break and had 3800. Mike had gotten 9 right and had 8800. Julie had gotten 3 right and had 2600.
Julie found the first Daily Double of Double Jeopardy. She’d gotten 2 right and had 3800. Shelly had gotten 1 wrong and had 3000. Julie wagered 3000 on this clue in River Country: “The Don (about 1200 miles).” She got it right. The length of the river should’ve been a clue for me.
The next clue was a triple-stumper I got, in the same category: “The Fraser (about 850 miles).” The next clue was a common crossword word, but I wouldn’t have gotten it if Mike hadn’t negged first: “The Ebro.”
Shelly found the next Daily Double, in Mad Men. He’d gotten 2 right and 2 wrong since Julie’s last Daily Double, and had 3400. Mike had gotten 3 right and 2 wrong and had 8000, and Julie had gotten 4 right and had 11600. Shelly wagered 1600 on this clue: “This general’s reckless courage at the 1779 night assault that took Stony Point earned him his nickname.” Shelly got it right away!
Not surprisingly, we had 7 clues left when Mr. Trebek gave the less-than-a-minute warning. Four of them remained covered at the end of the round! Shelly had gotten 3 right and 1 wrong since his Daily Double, and had 7000. Julie had gotten 2 right and had 14400. Mike had gotten 3 right and 1 wrong and had 10400.
The Final Jeopardy category was Anthropology. This was the clue: “The most famous resident of the National Museum of Ethiopia is the very old young lady named this.” Like the Daily Doubles today, I don’t know what this is referring to. Shelly and Mike did, though. Shelly added 3500. Mike doubled his score. Julie lost 6401, and thus Mike becomes your new champion.
Mike didn’t find a Daily Double today. Maybe tomorrow, at which time we’ll also find out if he selects clues a little more quickly. (And by the way, Mike, if you’re reading this, this guy is looking for you.)
My Coryat today was 22600 (26200 without negs). Recent Coryats:
originally 10-27-08: 17200 (22600 without negs, although I’m not sure I should’ve accepted “fluorination” or “Evil Flowers”)
originally 10-28-08: 30600 (35800 without negs. I was 27/30 in this J! round, and no negs in that round!)
originally 10-29-08: 22800 (29000 without negs)
originally 10-30-08: 21000 (25400 without negs)