Good evening Jeopardy! fans! Andy here with a special Saturday recap to Friday’s episode! Your challengers today for 1-day champ Brendan O’Connor: Jeff Huong and Mike Lonesky!
Mike’s agreed to do a Q&A for us; if you’ve got any questions for him, let us know!
J! round categories: 50th ANNIVERSARIES IN MUSIC; THE NAME OF THE WIND; “C_N_N”; A COLORFUL CATEGORY; MISSOURI LOVES COMPANIES; LITERATURE QUOTES: ONE WORD OFF
I really liked the music category; namely because I know a lot about the music of 1962! Brendan didn’t seem to like the fact that Mike knew a lot about it, though!
Jeff seemed to have difficulty being first in, which meant an early break; your scores at first break:
Brendan: $1,400
Mike: $1,200
Jeff: -$200
I saw a couple of comments last night about this on Twitter from various people, but I think Jeff might be the first contestant to admit to being a Brony on the program! (I can’t say I’m one myself, but hey, to each their own!)
Jeff obviously got some excellent buzzing tips at the break, as he came out like gangbusters after it! He got a couple of questions, followed by the Daily Double, under A COLORFUL CATEGORY $800. Scores:
Brendan $1,400
Mike $1,200
Jeff $800
Jeff, choosing to wager $1,000, saw the following clue: This patriot militia was established in 1770 in present-day Bennington, Vermont. His correct response brought his score to $1,800.
Mike seemed to do reasonably well over the rest of the round, especially on “C_N_N”; at the end of the opening round, he had the lead!
Your scores at the end of the Jeopardy! round:
Mike $5,000
Jeff $2,400
Brendan $1,800
DJ! round categories: YOU HAD ME AT SHALOM; FASHION; A RIVER RUNS TO IT; PUTTING THE “POP” IN POP CULTURE; HOMOPHONES; AFRICAN-AMERICAN INVENTORS (presented by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). I can just see half of J! Board sighing in exasperation at that last category.
After a few Triple Stumpers in A RIVER RUNS TO IT, Mike found the Daily Double at the category’s delta, err, $2,000 level. Scores:
Mike $12,200
Jeff $2,800
Brendan $2,200
Betting just $1,200 (a decision I like considering how the category had played thus far), his clue: The Vistula: this sea. Mike’s giving of the wrong sea put his score back to $11,000.
Holding a big lead, Mike was smart enough to go into the video category to kill a boatload of clock. Brendan was also smart – leaving the category when he got the chance! However, Mike seemed to win this tug of war, and got to the Daily Double at the $1,200 level here. Scores:
Mike $15,000
Brendan $5,800
Jeff $2,000
His bet of $400 — again, which I like, because it’s also killing a ton of time off the clock here — saw him faced with the following: Dr. Charles Drew saved the lives of soldiers & civilians in WWII when he improved blood banks by finding a long-term storage method for this blood liquid. His correct response brought him to $15,400.
Moving over to the low-valued clues in FASHION was another excellent choice here for Mike. Having Jeff take forever to answer the $800 clue was even better luck! Needless to say, the clock ran out with Mike having a runaway, and the following scores:
Mike $15,000
Brendan $5,800
Jeff $5,600
FJ! category: POETRY
FJ! clue: Her most famous poem was written for a December 1883 art & literary auction to benefit the Pedestal Fund
Jeff 5600 – 5000 = 600
Brendan 5800 – 1337 = 4463
Mike 15000 – 999 = 14401
The answer seemed so obvious — as soon as I heard it, it made absolute perfect sense.
A very comprehensive win from Mike, though — and a very well-played game from him! I thought he did both the big and the little things quite well to seal up his opening win. Will he make it #2 on Monday? I’ll see you then!