Andy here with a recap of semifinal #3!
Sandie Baker, Joshua Brakhage, and Ben Ingram are attempting to join Arthur Chu and Julia Collins in the finals!
Ben mouthed “Go Gamecocks” and “I Love You Liz” at the camera during his introduction!
J! round categories:
LITERARY CHARACTERS
ENTERTAINMENT
WHAT DAY IS IT?
THE SCIENTIFIC NAME GAME
SOMETHING TO EAT
“IUM”
Ben was already rolling when he hit the first Daily Double, under LITERARY CHARACTERS $800! Scores:
Ben $1,800
Sandie $800
Joshua $600
Ben went to work – attempting to double his score. His clue: This Kipling character first appeared as an adult in the story “In The Rukh”, then as a boy in “The Jungle Book”. His correct response put him at $3,600!
An early Triple Stumper that I got (“IUM” $800: Riotous capital of hell in Milton’s “Paradise Lost”) — I once wrote a Final about that!
After 15 clues, the scores were:
Ben $5,000
Joshua $1,000
Sandie $800
Sandie, at her hometown library in East Point, hosted the library’s trivia contest?
Joshua was offered a personalized set of cowboy boots by a fan on Facebook — Joshua declined!
Ben was offered the key to his hometown of Florence, SC. He seemed very grateful to his hometown for its support!
Back to the game, Joshua and Sandie both did well over the back half of the round, at least getting closer to Ben! Ben did have one get that surprised him (NAME GAME $800: Ittibittium is a genus of (very small) marine snails, part of this mollusk class). I can think of a few my pub quiz regulars that would have gone 5/5 easily on that whole category, though!
Scores after 30:
Ben $7,400
Sandie $4,200
Joshua $2,200
DJ! round categories:
CAPITALS OF NON-COUNTRIES
“J” MOVIES
CLASSICAL RADIO
REAL ESTATE
A MASSIVE AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE
12 LETTERS & STARTS WITH A VOWEL
Ben negged on the first ($400: 2009: Meryl Streep prepares a chicken) clue in “J” MOVIES — and that was about as close as Sandie got!
Ben hit 3 of 4 clues going into CLASSICAL RADIO $1600, which had the first Daily Double! Ben played it, with scores at:
Ben $11,400
Sandie $3,800
Joshua $1,800
Ben bet 4,000. His clue: These call letters of a Boston PBS TV station first hit the airwaves with a 1951 classical radio concert. Ben had a jaw-dropping correct response to put his score at 15,400.
A couple of clues later, Ben hit the other Daily Double under A MASSIVE AGGRESSIVE ATTITUDE $1200! Scores:
Ben $18,200
Sandie $3,800
Joshua $1,800
Ben bet $2,000. His clue: In 1968 fighting was fierce in Hue during this event called the turning point of the Vietnam War. Another correct response put him at $20,200!
Ben’s getting 8 of 10 around those Daily Doubles put the game out of reach and the last dozen clues were just about getting to a score before Final Jeopardy!
Scores going into Final:
Ben $29,800
Sandie $5,400
Joshua $2,600
FJ! category: 21ST CENTURY BOOKS
FJ! clue: Set in the Great Depression, this 2006 novel has an epigraph from “Horton Hatches The Egg”
Joshua 2600 – 6 = 2594
Sandie 5400 – 5000 = 400
Ben 29800 + 0 = 29800
Ben Ingram, Julia Collins, and Arthur Chu — the final that a lot of people wanted to see — is going to happen tomorrow and Friday!