I think Jeanie might have received some poor information! Hillary Meyer and Barry Peterson are the challengers today for Keith Whitener, 5 time champion with $100,397 in winnings.
J! round categories: ON THE JOB; NAME THAT SPEECHMAKER; BASEBALL TIMELINE; JOHN, IN HIS OWN WRITE; COMPLETES THE LICENCE PLATE; THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY PAGE 1004
Keith went to the dictionary, apparently page 1004 is in the middle of the LE… words! That being a given, the Triple Stumper on $400 was a shocker: Born Vivian Mary Hartley, she won the Oscar for Best Actress of 1939 & 1951.
After Triple Stumpers at $200 and $400, the Daily Double was under the $600 in NAME THAT SPEECHMAKER! The scores were at:
Keith $3,400
Barry $1,800
Hillary $400
Keith bet just $1,000. His clue: “& you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog &…regardless of what they say about it, we’re gonna keep him”. Alex did a bit of an impression of it, and it took Keith over to the right answer! His score went to $4,400 as we go to our first break.
After the break I was disappointed by the following Triple Stumper (BASEBALL TIMELINE $1000): In 1962 this ex-Yankee manager known as the “Old Perfessor” became the first manager of the N.Y. Mets. Even more shocking: On April 14, 1910 he became the first President to throw the ceremonial first pitch to open a Major League season. Even if you know nothing about baseball, you should get this question!
Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! round:
Keith $8,000
Barry $4,000
Hillary $1,200
DJ! Round categories: WORDS IN HALLOWEEN; HERE’S TO THE IRISH; WORLD EXPLORATION; THINKING; OUTSIDE; THE BOX
I don’t like the wording of THE BOX $800 (The container part you can send in to support schools, or the band with the 1967 hit “The Letter”) – I would have said “container parts” so that both halves of the clue point to the same answer (as it currently stands, the first half is singular, the other plural).
Hillary definitely got her buzzer mojo together early in this round, though, bringing her score pretty close to Barry’s score! It was Barry who saw the Daily Double under OUTSIDE $800 though! Scores:
Keith $11,600
Barry $6,800
Hillary $5,600
(In my opinion, any bet less than $5,000 here is absolutely inexcusable. It’s at the $800 level and it is my belief that the show puts Daily Doubles at $800 in order for contestants to bet big on them! Plus, you’re playing against someone who has been very strong buzzer-wise for five days. This is your chance to take him down! Go for it!)
Barry bets: $2000. Ugh. Game over.
Clue: Believe it or not, the smooth soft-shelled species of this reptile can often outrun a man on level ground. Barry’s guess was right, but a definite opportunity was wasted here!
Meanwhile, Hillary decides that the last thing she wants to do is join into the hunt, going down to the $400 level after Barry went over to $800 in HERE’S TO THE IRISH.
And the Keith goes rolling along.
Amazingly, Hillary, after getting the $2000 clue in WORLD EXPLORATION, went to the only $400 clue left. Barry got it, went to where Hillary should have gone ($1600) and got a chance to make up for earlier with the final Daily Double. Scores:
Keith $18,000
Barry $9,200
Hillary $8,400
This is a tougher one to pick out a bet for. However, I’d probably bet $9,000 here myself. The only way a wrong answer doesn’t totally mess up my game is if I bet small, and betting small only keeps me with a small chance of winning anyway, considering Keith’s buzzer timing. Thus, I might as well take my chance here!
Barry bets just $1,000. It’s nice to see people show up to win the game here.
Clue: On April 9, 1682 this Frenchman reached the mouth of the Mississippi & named the area Louisiana. Barry had no answer and his score fell to $8,200.
A couple of key negs from Keith late brought the scores going into Final at:
Keith $16,800
Barry $9,000
Hillary $7,600
Not quite a runaway, but Barry could have had himself in such a better position than he is now! Will the miracle come in Final?
FJ! category: THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
FJ! clue: New York’s delegates were John Lansing, Robert Yates & this founding father, the only one of the 3 who signed
Hillary 7600 + 7100 = 14700
Barry 9000 – 6500 = 2500
Keith 16800 + 1201 = 18001 (6-day champion, $118,398)
If you’re reading this blog post before going onto the show: I will offer my coaching to you if you want it. It disappoints me to absolutely no end to watch contestants like Barry come on and absolutely throw their chances of winning away because of such horrible betting.
Jeanie’s got tomorrow, and I’ll be back next week.
Andy, out.
Tournament of Champions update:
1. Monica Thieu $100,000 (College Champion)
2. Patrick Quinn $100,000 (Teacher’s Champion)
3. Jason Keller $213,900 (9 wins)
4. Stephanie Jass $149,570 (7 wins)
5. Keith Whitener $118,398 (6 wins)
6. Joel Pool $116,800 (6 wins)
7. Dave Leach $98,054 (6 wins)
8. David Menchaca $115,503 (5 wins)
9. David Gard $84,700 (4 wins)
10. Dan McShane $62,001 (4 wins)
11. Patrick Morrison $80,701 (3 wins)
12. Francis Lansangan $78,401 (3 wins)
13. Matt Samberg $61,402 (3 wins)
14. Andy Baggarly $60,402 (3 wins)
15. Stephanie Fontaine $54,500 (3 wins)
—
16. Joey Falco $53,999 (3 wins)
17. Erin Zweiner $53,399 (3 wins)
18. Beau Henson $51,203 (3 wins)
19. Margaret Swanson $48,000 (3 wins)
20. Claudia Gray $45,202 (3 wins)
21. Dan Adkison $37,400 (3 wins)
22. Jacob Silverman $35,998 (3 wins)
23. Jessamine Price $26,803 (3 wins)