Today’s contestants:
Scheri Mullins, an administrative assistant from Louisville, KY |
Matt Ottinger, a telecommunications engineer from Okemos, MI |
Ken Jennings, a software engineer from Salt Lake City, UT (13-day total: $440,158) |
Alex said at the start of the episode: “the show is getting to be a 30-minute conversation between you and Ken. After which, you give him $35,000 or $40,000.”
This game actually saw a couple of firsts for Ken’s run:
1) For the first time, Ken was not lead after the Jeopardy! round. Matt held a $10,400 – $8,000 lead over Ken after 30 clues (Scheri had just $400).
2) There was an unplayed clue in Double Jeopardy! – it was the first time a clue had been left on the board since May 31 (Anne Boyd’s 5th game).
Matt really took it to Ken in this game – it was definitely his biggest fight since his first match!
The turning point of this game came under a $2000 clue in 20TH CENTURY NICKNAMES midway through Double Jeopardy (Richard Nixon’s aides Haldeman & Erlichman were sometimes called these comic-strip “Kids”); Matt said “Katzenheimer Kids”, Ken rebounded with Katzenjammer kids and never relinquished the lead after that. Holding a $20,400 – $15,600 – -$1,800 lead on a 28th clue Daily Double (and $2,800 left on the board), Ken chose to bet $6,000, gave a correct answer, but did not have a runaway going into Final!
Meanwhile, Scheri got the second clue correct, and then was unable to buzz in again until the 52nd.
Final Jeopardy! category: INVENTIONS
Final Jeopardy! clue: Josephine Cochrane’s 1886 version of this consisted of a copper boiler, wire baskets & a pump
What is a dishwasher?
Scores going into Final:
Ken $28,400 (29 correct, 3 incorrect)
Matt $15,600 (22 correct, 2 incorrect)
Scheri -$1,800 (3 correct, 2 incorrect)
Final results:
Matt $15,600 – $15,600 = $0 (What is an artificial lung?)
Ken $28,400 + $3,201 = $31,601 (14-day total: $471,759)
Ken’s interview in this game spoke briefly about the work he has done for NAQT.
Ken’s stats through 14 games:
490 correct (30 today, including Final)
33 incorrect (3 today)
25 unforced errors (incorrect response after a buzz-in)
22/26 on Daily Doubles (84.62%)
10/14 in Final Jeopardy (71.43%)
56.96% in first on buzzer (454/797)
Average Coryat Score: $28,786
5 correct responses in a category: 18 times (1 today)
4 correct responses in a category: 38 times (1 today)
3 correct responses in a category: 48 times (5 today)
3+ correct responses in: 61.90% of all categories seen
(contestant photo credit: j-archive.com)
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