Andy here, blogging at The Jeopardy! Fan! Sometimes I wonder if you can tell the difference between my blogs and Jeanie’s; I know I deliberately put mine in a different font than hers, but I also have seen comments on the site that makes me wonder!
This week’s contestants:
Joshua Brakhage, South Coffeyville, OK
Buddy Hammet, Douglasville, GA
Sean Link, Terryville, CT
Waymond Mitchell, Houston, TX
John Morgan, Charlotte, NC
Barbara Sheridan, Yonkers, NY
Zora Shinn, Solvang, CA
Michelle Souza, San Diego, CA
Susie Swithers, Zionsville, IN
Lauren Thomas, Owensboro, KY
and returning champion: Helen Juvonen, Toronto, ON, Canada! The challengers picked today: Barbara Sheridan and John Morgan!
Will Helen win her 3rd? She won $57,202 over her first two games…
J! round categories:
FILL THE PRESCRIPTION
“T” TIME
SWANS
RUNNING INTO THE FURNITURE TERMS
TV THEME SONGS
TABLE OF CONTESTS
I felt that both Barbara and John took their sweet time early on picking their clues, though they did eventually speed up! At the end of 15 clues, our scores were:
Barbara: $3,400
Helen $2,200
John $1,000
Helen worked as a customs inspector at Pearson Airport for a bit of time after university! Yes, she found stuff, it was her job to find stuff!
Shortly after the return, Helen got to play the round’s Daily Double, under TABLE OF CONTENTS $800! The scores at this point were:
Barbara $3,400
Helen $2,800
John $1,000
(My suggestion here for Helen would be the full $2,800. She just said that her college major was English. You’re dealing with an English category, and you have plenty of time to make up losing the $2,800 if you the chance of you actually missing the question happens.)
Helen bets just $1,200. Sigh. Her clue: “Eliza’s Escape” & “Topsy”. She at least had the prescence of mind to throw out a guess, but her score fell to $1,600. (That still doesn’t mean I think her bet was a good idea!)
Helen did manage to keep her buzzer mojo going, and it was a very close game through 28 clues; Helen got the last two clues, though, to give herself a bit of a lead at the end of the round! Scores:
Helen $6,200
John $4,000
Barbara $3,800
DJ! round categories:
THE COSSACKS
OSCARS FOR MAKEUP
MOST POPULOUS COUNTRIES
“AN” THE BEGINNING
CAPE TOWN
CONTENTS OF TABLES
Barbara started out with immediately trying to fish out a Daily Double! She hit it on her second stab, at CAPE TOWN $1600! Of course, it was a video clue. Scores at this point were:
Helen $6,200
Barbara $5,000
John $4,000
One would assume that Barbara, after working specifically to find this chance to bet, would be aggressive and take advantage of it, especially considering that there are 28 clues left on the board! Alas, she bet just $2,000. Why even bother fishing?
Her clue: Released after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela gave his first public speech from Cape Town City Hall. He began by leading the crowd in the chant “Amandla Awethu”, “Power is ours!”, the rallying cry of this party Her correct answer put her to $7,000.
You’d also think that your fishing strategy would take you to a new category once you already found a Daily Double in that category. The three clues on the board without a Daily Double are the three remaining clues in CAPE TOWN. Barbara went to the $2,000 clue. Once again, why bother fishing?
Even more galling: After going through all of MAKEUP, “AN” THE BEGINNING, and half of TABLES, with the game hinging on the final Daily Double, Barbara selected CAPE TOWN for $800. It is very rare that I cheer this much against a contestant, but that has certainly happened tonight!
John went to MOST POPULOUS COUNTRIES for $2000 instead of $1600, but the Daily Double was at $1600 and Barbara got to play the clue, in spite of her best efforts!
Scores at this point were:
John $16,400
Helen $13,400
Barbara $13,000
Barbara bet $4,000. Her clue: It represents Africa in the top 10. She looked absolutely shellshocked by this, especially considering that CAPE TOWN was a category and Egypt showed up at $2000! Her guess was incorrect and she fell to $9,000.
The only clue gotten between here from the end was CAPE TOWN $400, leading to scores going into Final Jeopardy! of:
John $16,400
Helen $13,800
Barbara $9,000
FJ! category: MUSEUMS
FJ! clue: Opened in 2012, the Belfast museum seen here commemorates this, also constructed there
Through 30 seconds, I had no idea. The correct answer made perfect sense once I heard it, though!
Barbara 9000 + 8900 = 17999
Helen 13800 – 4201 = 9599
John 16400 – 2600 = 13800
I liked both Helen’s and Barbara’s wagers! John’s was interesting, but defensible. I know J! Board will be up in arms for no good reason whatsoever over it, though!
This means Barbara is our champion though, and I’m scheduled to blog tomorrow’s game! After what happened today, I’m really not looking forward to it! Jeanie, are you sure you can’t blog tomorrow?