This episode rocked. So much to say, but plenty of time! Shall we? The contestants:
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| Alistair Bell of Berlin MA |
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| John McGee of Dallas TX |
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| Judy Strong of Bellevue WA |
Do you guys notice when you click on John’s Howdy, someone else’s comes up who’s not even listed as one of this week’s contestants? (As I’m typing this, anyway.) Same story when you click on Judy’s. Fail! Alistair‘s Howdy is okay though. He was defending for the first time today. Friendly reminder: I’m doing a Q & A with him. My list of questions is already crazy-long. (Sorry, Alistair! No pressure!) 🙂 By the way, a boardie uncovered the fact that Alistair was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in England.
I had a feeling Mr. Trebek was going to mention that John’s and Judy’s names begin with “J”. He did not say, though, that John and Alistair are wearing very similar shirts!
Was Judy intense straight out of the gate, or what? It’s not a bad thing! She got the first 4 clues right and looked surprised at her first neg. (See below, because it was a triple-stumper of mine.) 😉 The next clue was the Daily Double, in Literary Relations. Judy had 600, and the boys had not rung in yet. Judy wagered 1000 on this clue: “Last name of Biff & Happy, brothers in a stage play.” I got this one right but Judy didn’t. I got the impression she knew the play but not the last name.
John got the next clue right. Every time he selected Port (especially the first time), I was like, Huh? He speaks quickly!
At the first break, Judy had gotten 2 right since her Daily Double and had 400. John had gotten 4 right and one wrong, and had 1400. We had yet to hear from Alistair!
Did you guys notice Mr. Trebek said Judy was from “Belleville”? My closed-captioning had it right. Judy didn’t correct him and Mr. Trebek never corrected himself.
Didn’t Jimmy look extra-thin to you, in his clue about Charades?
At the break, Mr. Trebek said the clues that mentioned England benefited him. But they didn’t, really! The only one he got, I think, was this last one of the round, in I’m Game: “In England the board game ‘Clue’ goes by this slightly longer name.” Maybe Mr. Trebek said that because this clue was fresh in his mind. I intend to ask Alistair about these British clues too. So at the end of the round, Alistair had come alive and gotten 6 right. He had 4200. Judy had gotten 2 right and 2 wrong, and had 400. John had gotten 7 right and had 6200.
I got this one right but I’m a little surprised Mr. Trebek didn’t ask John to be more specific: “This ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ composer was just 38 when he died in 1937 following brain surgery.”
Alistair found the first Daily Double late-ish in the round. He had gotten 6 right in the round and had 10200. Judy had gotten 4 right and moved up to 6400. John had gotten 5 right and one wrong and had 10200. Alistair wagered 2000 on this clue in 18th Century Technology: “Musicians can thank John Shore, who invented this in 1711; it vibrated at 423.5 cycles a second.” Alistair got it right!
By the time Alistair found the next Daily Double in Political Memoirs, he’d gotten 2 more right and had 15000. Judy had gotten one right and had 6800. John still had 10200. Alistair wagered 2000 on this clue: “Going from the White House to ABC News, he wrote ‘All Too Human: A Political Education’ about his Clinton years.”
At the end of the round, Alistair had “close to a runaway,” at least according to Mr. Trebek. He’d gotten 3 right and one wrong since his last Daily Double, and had 19000. Judy had gotten one wrong and had 4800. John had gotten 2 right and one wrong, and had 11000.
The Final Jeopardy category was Olympic Gold Medalists. The clue: “Before Michael Phelps in 2008, he was the last American to win 5 individual golds in one Olympics; he did it at Lake Placid.” I’m proud to say I got this one instantly. And it was a triple-stumper! Judy lost 2800. (I’d have wagered 1200, probably.) John lost 9001. (I’d have wagered 3001.) Alistair lost 3001. So John would’ve had to come up with a correct response anyway to win. We’ll see Alistair tomorrow!
The good news? I had 5 triple-stumpers today not counting the Final:
- In Literary Relations: “Gertrude is Paul Morel’s mom in this D.H. Lawrence novel.” I had this book checked out of the library at one point, but I didn’t read it. Should I?
- In Hodgepodge: “Since 1924 this alliterative item has been used as a daily time signal by the BBC.” I intend to ask Alistair how he didn’t ring in on this one! Mr. Trebek was surprised too!
- In Star Boards: “No way, Jose! That’s this Cuban-American actor with his wife, Ms. Hepburn.”
- In Composers: “In honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth, Poland proclaimed 2010 ‘the year of’ this composer.”
- In Geographic Phrases: “The ‘great’ one of these can refer to death or form part of the Montana-Idaho border.”
The bad news is I had 10 negs (10600 worth). My Coryat was 12800, but somehow I’m not bothered! I’m not sure what’s bringing on this good mood, but I’ll take it any time.
(A little piece from Andy: Tomorrow’s episode will be the 6500th in the history of the show!)