Andy here as Julia Collins goes for Win #7!
Today’s contestants:
J! round categories:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST
ARMY BRATS
IT’S THE END “FER” YOU!
THE TV CHESSBOARD
DAM LIES
STATISTICS
DAM LIES $400, the fifth clue of the game, had the Daily Double! It was Mary’s to play after her first get. Scores:
Julia $600
Nick $600
Mary $200
Mary bet $1,000. Her clue: The Euphrates Dam in this country created Lake Assad. A tricky one, as the usual Euphrates response of “Iraq” — what Mary gave — was not correct! She fell to -$800. To be honest, I think that may have been a bit of dirty pool from the writers, especially in the $400 box!
At the first break, the scores sat at:
Julia $2,800
Nick $1,400
Mary -$600
The first year that Mary was married to her husband, her Christmas gifts: an ironing board and a scale…
Coming out of the break, Julia had the best time on the buzzer, and jumped out to a big lead! Scores after 30:
Julia $8,000
Nick $4,200
Mary -$1,200
DJ! round categories:
RECENT HISTORICAL FICTION
AMERICANA
ABBREVIATED ABC
I DIRECTED MY WIFE IN THAT FILM
GEOGRAPHIC ANAGRAMS
SCIENCE & SCIENTISTS
Mary’s first selection: AMERICANA $800. It had a Daily Double! Mary bet $2,000. Her clue: After Noah Webster’s death, the company named for these brothers bought the rights to his dictionary. Her correct response put her at $800!
AMERICANA $2000: This minister wrote anecdotal bios of Ben Franklin & William Pen as well as the one about George Washington. I still hate that man. I don’t care.
Meanwhile, Julia did quite well in DIRECTED MY WIFE to keep a commanding lead. SCIENCE & SCIENTISTS $1200 had the final Daily Double, and it was hers to play!
Scores:
Julia $18,800
Mary $7,600
Nick $5,800
Julia bet $3,500 — a big bet for her! Her clue: He was in charge of Italy’s radio service during World War I. Her correct response put her at $22,300!
In spite of Nick’s smart strategy of taking the endgame bottom-to-top, Julia had the best time of it after that final Daily Double, leading to scores going into Final of:
Julia $25,100
Mary $10,000
Nick $6,200
FJ! category: U.S. HISTORY
FJ! clue: Messrs. Gusenberg, Gusenberg, May, Weinshank, Clark, Heyer & Schwimmer famously died on this day in 1929
Nick 6200 – 6199 = 1
Mary 10000 – 9999 = 1
Julia 25100 – 5000 = 20100
ToC update:
1. John Pearson (November 2013 Teacher’s Champion)
2. Jim Coury (May 2013 College Champion)
3. Terry O’Shea (February 2014 College Champion)
4. Arthur Chu $297,200 (12 wins)
5. Ben Ingram $176,534 (8 wins)
6. Drew Horwood $138,100 (8 wins)
7. Julia Collins $144,910 (7 wins)
8. Jared Hall $181,001 (6 wins)
9. Sandie Baker $140,200 (6 wins)
10. Andrew Moore $137,803 (6 wins)
11. Jerry Slowik $121,800 (5 wins)
12. Joshua Brakhage $103,205 (5 wins)
13. Rebecca Rider $101,600 (5 wins)
14. Sarah McNitt $89,398 (5 wins)
15. Rani Peffer $68,701 (5 wins)
—
16. Mark Japinga $112,600 (4 wins)
17. Mike Lewis $102,800 (4 wins)
18. Carlos Ross $89,774 (3 wins)
19. Adam Holquist $76,299 (3 wins)
20. Sara Garnett $75,403 (3 wins)
21. Salvo Candela $66,195 (3 wins)
22. Neal Pollack $60,798 (3 wins)
23. John Anneken $60,112 (3 wins)
24. Tim Anderson $56,001 (3 wins)
25. Stuart Anderson $51,601 (3 wins)
26. Bill Tolany $44,200 (3 wins)