Andy here with a quick recap of the November 5 episode.
This week’s contestants:
Colin Bodels, Drexel Hill, PA
Shari Dwoskin, Montreal, QC
Bobbi Hiltibidal, Topeka, KS
Jessica Lee, Evanston, IL
Paul Nelson, Iowa City, IA
Only 5 because the Teacher’s Tournament starts on Wednesday!
Bobbi Hiltibidal and Shari Dwoskin are the challengers today for Paul Nelson (1-day champion, $14,000). Will Paul get lucky in Final again? (More on that later.)
As it turns out, Paul has some Canadian ties as well; his parents are both Canadian!
Scores after the J! round:
Shari $7,000
Paul $3,800
Bobbi $1,200
Scores after the DJ! round:
Paul $18,600
Shari $11,000
Bobbi $7,200
FJ! category: BROADWAY MUSICALS
FJ! clue: Based on a 1926 play & real-life events, it’s now the longest-running American musical in Broadway history
Bobbi 7200 + 4000 = 11200
Shari 11000 – 3500 = 7500
Paul 18600 – 3400 = 15200 (2-day champion, $29,200)
Shari actually took a $2,000 neg on the final clue of Double Jeopardy! — had she not negged that question, Bobbi would have won the game! Shari also underbet significantly — I guess you could say she had it coming when it came to her third place finish!
I was about 5,000 shows short for my guess of “1776” on this Final!
And now the Q&A between Jeanie and Ariane:
Q: I noticed that you three contestants jumped all over the board, not necessarily taking the clues from the top of a category to the bottom. Did the tape have to be stopped any time?
A: No, the tape was never stopped — we really were that all over the place. I can’t speak to the gentlemen’s strategies, but my preference is actually to take the clues top-to-bottom within the same category. That’s what I did during rehearsals. But during the game I was constantly trailing, so whenever I did manage to ring in first (both Keith and Paul had killer timing on the buzzer), I would try to close the gap by going for the larger dollar amounts in the categories I had confidence in.
Q: I’m sorry to remind you that you were the only one to get the Final right. Care to say anything about it?
A: Well, as you can imagine, that was utterly heartbreaking. It was a terrible combination of the scenarios I most hated (timid betting) and most feared (sports in the final category). I know NOTHING about football, so when I saw the category, I was 100% certain I would not know the answer. If I’d thought I had even a small chance of getting it right, I would’ve bet everything — because in the end, the difference between 2nd place and 3rd place is
insignificant compared with the difference between 2nd and 1st. Instead, I thought the ONLY chance I had of winning, with this dreadful category, was to wager nothing. Keith and Paul were close enough to each other that I figured they would both bet big to try to cover the other’s wager, and I was banking on the likelihood that neither of them would know the answer. As you saw I was right about them not knowing, and right about Keith’s betting strategy (after all, I had seen him play four games already). I was honestly very surprised that Paul bet nothing, but I guess he must have calculated his wager the same way I did mine.
The tragic irony, of course, is that the final clue turned out to be about my alma mater. I knew instantly that I had it right. It was in many ways a dispiriting loss — but on the other hand, it was an exciting, suspenseful, and intensely competitive game. If I had to lose, I’m at least glad that it was in a hard-fought game with two very tough competitors. I had a huge amount of fun.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
A: For the record, I am mortally embarrassed that I missed the questions about Nora Ephron and Amy Heckerling. I have no excuse aside from sheer nerves; my mind went absolutely blank and I could not for the life of me remember either of their names in time to buzz in. And it kills me because I am a huge fan of both of them! I love Nora Ephron’s writing as well as her films, and Heckerling’s “Clueless” is one of my all-time favorite movies.
I also got a kick out of your comment that I “seemed pretty excited” about the Ariosto question in the European Lit category. That was a delightful moment because not only is the Orlando Furioso one of the greatest books ever written (and, in my opinion, not nearly as widely read as it deserves to be), it happens to be one of the texts I’m writing my PhD dissertation on. I was even teaching the Orlando Furioso in an undergrad literature class the week I got called for my Jeopardy! audition. So it was a wild and wonderful coincidence to get a question on it.
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Thanks for answering Jeanie’s questions, Ariane — and for the record, I’d like to personally state that I really liked your Final Jeopardy! bet — you should have nothing to be ashamed of! Paul, on the other hand, I think got off really lucky two games in a row now (nothing against that, as luck is a big part of this game, but I felt I should point that out.)
I’ll be back tomorrow with the final recap before the Teacher’s Tournament, and the 500th post!