As I expected both
Colleen and Kaitlin discussed their run-ins with Adriana Havemeyer in their interview. Kaitlin’s friends held a
watch party and booed Adriana whenever she went ahead. Colleen’s son teased her
about the Daily Double she got wrong. Being a loving mother her son was in the
audience.
Game 1
In a sign of things to
come Will found the Daily Double on the second clue of the Jeopardy round in SO
SAYETH THE KING JAMES BIBLE. With only $600 he bet the $1000 he was allowed:
“And there was war
again: and David went out, and thought with’ this group, “and slew them with a
great slaughter.” Will knew they were the Philistines and jumped to $1600. He
maintained that margin throughout the Jeopardy round, finishing with $6400 to
Kaitlin’s $2800 and Colleen’s $1800.
In keeping with his
want immediately after Will rang in the first time during Double Jeopardy he
found the first Daily Double on the next clue in TRIBUTARIES. (The clue was
right next to TRIALS; the writers were having fun, as Alex had a habit of saying.)
He wagered $2500:
“A sheepish response is
perhaps best for this, the largest tributary of the Yellowstone.” Will knew it
was the Bighorn and gained $2500.
The rest of the round
was mainly dominated by Will as neither Colleen nor Kaitlan had much of a
chance. He had $23,700 when he found the last Daily Double on the Final clue of
the round in the category that one can only find on Jeopardy during these Tournaments
NOVEL DROP A LETTER.
The clue was confounding:
“An Edith Wharton title drops a letter and laughter spews from a tube.” Will
said: “What is Hilarious Toothpaste, I don’t know?”
Ken: “That’s like my
favorite band, but it is not an Edith Wharton novel.”
For the record it was The
Hose of Mirth (one drops the ‘U’ from House”.)
Will dropped to
$20,000, significantly ahead of Kaitlin’s $6800 and Colleen’s $4200.
The Final Jeopardy category
was one that I hadn’t seen before: SCIENCE: THE ___ OF____ The clue made it logical:
“4 of these discovered
in the early 1600s were given the names of lovers of a mythological deity.”
Colleen’s response was
revealed first and she figured out what it meant: “What are the moons of
Jupiter?” And that makes sense when you consider that some of the moons
names are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Calisto – all of whom were lovers of Jupiter
or Zeus. (I reasoned it out because of the time period as well as the fact I
remembered that Europa and Io were two lovers of Zeus.) Colleen did what she
had to do and wagered everything.
No one else knew what
it was. Kaitlin wrote down “What are fossils?” and Will saluted a friend my
writing down in memory of Carey Hardyn. Caitlin lost everything but a dollar and Will bet nothing. Both of
them were making the smart play.
At the end of Game 1
Will led with $20,000 to Colleen’s $8400 and Kaitlin’s $1. Will had an advantage
but far from an insurmountable one. As Alex said anything could happen in Jeopardy
and in Game 2, that’s what happened.
Game 2
From the start of the
Jeopardy round of Game 2 everything went Colleen and Kaitlin’s way and nothing
seemed to go Will’s way. It was Colleen got off to an early lead and she would
maintain it the entire round. By the time Will found the Daily Double he was in
a distant third and had only $1000 in front of him which he bet in 10-,11-&
12-LETTER WORDS.:
“Containing a root from
Latin for ‘scales’, it’s a state of balance in physics. It took Will a minute
to come up with the correct response: “What is equilibrium?” He doubled his
score but it made little of a difference: by the end of the round Colleen led
with $6200 to Kaitlin’s $6000 while Will trailed with $3000.
Things kept going
against Will in Double Jeopardy: he did poorly in YOUR 19TH CENTURY
BEARD TICKLES and even though bears and history were his specialty he was only
able to give one correct response in that category.
Kaitlin and Colleen
maintained their level of dominance throughout the round while Will kept
struggling: he gave four incorrect responses and kept sliding backwards: at the
end of game 2 he would give 17 correct responses but six incorrect ones. By
contrast Colleen gave 17 correct responses and only 2 incorrect ones and Kaitlin
gave 18 correct responses and only made one mistake. And two of them in ‘R’ WE
THERE YET were critical. Will would lose $3200 and Colleen found the first
Daily Double in it:
“This mountain’s major
peaks are named Liberty Cap, Point Success & Columbia Crest, which is
actually the summit. “Colleen knew it was Mount Rainier and added $3000 to her
total.
By the time Will found
the other Daily Double in SLANG FROM YOUR START-UP JOB, he had just $3800. He
was conservative and bet just $1000”
“Do you think you have
the” this word ‘to do the work – the word has expanded to mean more than just ‘data
capacity’. Will knew it was bandwidth and went up to $4800.
At the end of Double
Jeopardy it was reversal from the end of Game 1: Kaitlin was leading with $16,000;
Colleen was next with $12,600 and Will trailed with $7600. Despite the turn
around Kaitlin’s $1 at the end of Game 1 left her out of contention for advancement.
Colleen however still had a chance to overtake Will if he was incorrect in
Final Jeopardy and she was correct and bet enough.
The critical Final
Jeopardy was about 19th CENTURY FICTION. “In Chapter 9 of an 1851
work, a preacher in a New England port city delivers a sermon about this old
testament prophet.”
Will’s response was revealed
first: “Who is Jonah?” That was correct. The novel as you might think given the
date was Moby Dick and Ishmael was listening to a sermon about whaling.
Will wagered everything to put him at $15,200. His two-day total was $35,200
Colleen’s response was
revealed next. She also wrote down Jonah. She bet $12,000 to put her up to
$24,600. Her two day total was $33,000.
Kaitlin was last and
she had written down: “Who is Joseph?” which was wrong. Her wager was
irrelevant; she had no chance of winning but Will had managed to hold on. He
received $35,000 and advanced to Champions Wild Card.
Two comments from your
humble scribe. First of all, all three finalists played well in both the semifinals
and the finals. Will was superb throughout but I do give high marks to Kaitlin
who made a remarkable recovery considering how far back she was at the end of
Game 1 and where she was at the end of Double Jeopardy in Game 2. Everyone was
clearly taking their Second Chance with the seriousness it deserved.
Second of all, a gentle
suggestion to the producers. For the first decade I watched the show until
roughly 2010 or so all Tournaments had guaranteed minimums for all three spots
but if you won more money then that minimum, you were allowed to keep it. I
suspect this remained true until all of the championships gave away $100,000 as
their grand prize and the TOC moved from $100,000 to $250,000 as its grand
prize though I’m not sure (the record is foggy)
Considering the nature
of the tournament involved why not consider letting all three players keep
their winnings? After all, they are Jeopardy champions now and that is what
Jeopardy champions are allowed to do. In the case of Will of Colleen in
particular, it would have been a nice bump, considering that Will’s total of
$35,200 had to drop for the $35,000 he got for winning this leg of the Second
Chance Tournament. And considering Colleen earned her $33,000, I think that
would be a better take home then the $15,000 she was allowed to take with her.
(Kaitlin, obviously, can’t complain.)
Just something to consider
if we are to maintain these tournaments as an annual feature. Might very well
make them more exciting for the viewer and the contestants.
I’ll be back next week
to see the results of the second week of Second Chance.
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