January
12th
Ryan
Sharpe vs Vickie Tavola vs Cameron Berry
Almost single-handedly Monday's
game justified the existence of Champions Wild Card, arguably being the most
thrilling game in postseason competition so far this year.
Ryan got off to a quick start in
the Jeopardy round but Vickie got to the Daily Double ahead of him in AROUND
THE WORLD. With $800 she bet the $1000 she could:
This longest river in South
Africa is named in honor of the Dutch royal family." She knew it was the Orange. Then
Cameron got started and the game was wire thing the rest of the way. At the end
of the Jeopardy round Ryan had $6000, Cameron $5800, Vickie $5400.
Early in Double Jeopardy Ryan
found the first Daily Double in FRENCH HISTORY. He'd gotten a clue wrong in
that category once before despite living in France so he decided to try for
redemption and bet the $9600 he had:
"Enacted in 1804 this
comprehensive system of laws, with revisions, is still the operating civil
jurisprudence in France."
He knew it was the Napoleonic Code and jumped up to $19,200.
In previous games in the Second
Chance Tournament that would have been the end of it. Neither Vickie nor
Cameron took this lying down. It was Cameron who got to the other Daily Double
in 20th CENTUY LIT. With $9800 to Ryan's $21,200 Cameron knew what
he had to do and did it:
"This language from 1984 was
designed to…diminish the range of thought." He knew it was Newspeak
and jumped up to $19,600.
All three players played
perfectly. I mean that. Ryan gave 16 correct responses and no incorrect ones.
Vickie gave 19 correct responses and no incorrect ones. Cameron gave 21 correct
responses and no incorrect ones. Five clues were triple stumpers and two of
them were in CROSSWORDS CLUE 'K' in Double Jeopardy. The scores at the end of Final Jeopardy were,
to be clear, impressive. Vickie finished in third with $15,800. Ryan finished
in second with $24,000 even and Cameron finished in the lead with $27,200.
It came down to Final Jeopardy.
The category was MEDICAL HISTORY. "The viral rash known since 1866 by
this Latin name was described a century earlier by Friedrich Hoffman of the
University of Halle." I suspect you might have figured out the popular
name but the Latin name might take some thought.
Vickie's response was revealed
first: "What is rosacea?" It was incorrect. She bet $9400, dropping
her to $6400.
Next came Ryan. He wrote down:
"What is Variola?" Also incorrect. He lost $7601, leaving him with
$16,399. He was clearly betting to be ahead of Vickie by $1 if she bet
everything.
It came down to Cameron. His
response was: "What is rubella?" And that was the Latin name for
German measles which is what those scientists were studying. (I was lucky I got
it right; I wasn't sure that was the Latin name.) Cameron bet $4401, giving him
$31,601. He was also betting to beat Vickie by one dollar and he and Ryan would
have been tied if they'd both been correct. But Cameron was and Ryan wasn't,
and that made Cameron a finalist.
January
13th
Jonathan
Hugendubler vs Michelle Tsai vs. Bill McKinney
The Jeopardy round was a battle
between Jonathan and Michelle. Jonathan took an early lead but Michelle got to
the Daily Double in OUR LOVE'S IN JEOPARDY and bet the $1600 she had:
"Vronsky loves Kitty,
thinks this title woman "but me he thinks of with hatred and is sorry he
had anything to do with me." She knew it was Anna Karenina and doubled
her score. She and Jonathan went back and forth for the lead and at the end of
the round Jonathan had it with $6800 to Michelle's $6600.
However in Double Jeopardy
Jonathan got to the first Daily Double on the third clue of the round in
NOTABLE AMERICAN WOMEN. With a narrow margin of $8800 to $8600 he bet
everything:
"Her other works about
South Seas cultures included Growing up in New Guinea & Balinese Character.
He knew it was Margaret Meade and leapt up to $17,600.
It was a closer battle then it
looked and it was a hunt for the last Daily Double. Jonathan got to it ahead of
Michelle when he had $26,000 to her $11,000. He bet $5000 in FERRY THEE WELL:
"This city's ferry system is
the world's largest, serving 2 continents & 100 million people annually, a
ferry large number."
He knew it was Istanbul and went up to $31,000.
It was a closer game then it
looked: Jonathan got 20 correct answers and only two incorrect answers, whereas
Michelle got 21 correct answers and four incorrect answers. But those two Daily
Doubles were too big a margin for Michelle to make up ground and Jonathan
finished with a runaway victory with $30,600 to Michelle's $13, 400. Bill
actually spent a fair amount of Double Jeopardy at -$2000, so it was a moral
victory that he finished with $1200 and was around for Final Jeopardy.
Considering how bizarre the Final
Jeopardy category was - NEW TESTAMENT
GREEK – and that it was a runaway, one could have forgiven all three players
for not taking it seriously. But though none of them bet much all of them did
approach it with seriousness of heart and mind.
A famous passage in Matthew 6
refers to kleptai, meaning them.
Bill's response was revealed
first: "Who are three wise
men?" That wasn't it. He bet nothing.
Michelle wrote down: "What
are tax collectors?" Her note was: "Thanks to all." She was
close but wrong. She lost $31.
Jonathan wrote down: "Who is
thief?" (And added, Its been an honor to play Bill and Michelle.) He was
correct. As Ken said "It's a reference to laying up treasures in heaven
where thieves can't break in and steal them. He bet nothing and it didn't
matter; he was a more than deserving finalist.
For the record I wrote down thief
as well, not because I knew the passage but because I associated 'kleptai' with
the word kleptomaniac, the term for someone who steals compulsively.
I will also admit to be pulling
for Jonathan slightly more than Michelle in this game, mainly because he has a
bone to pick with Scott Riccardi – and honestly I really did think his run was
going to go longer than it did this past season.
January
14th
Stella
Trout vs Ian Morrison vs Harvey Silkowitz
Harvey got off to the fastest
start in the Jeopardy round helped when he found the Daily Double in CLASSICAL
MUSIC. Already ahead with $4000 he bet everything:
United Airlines began using this
Gershwin piece in its ads in the 1980s. Harvey knew it was 'Rhapsody in Blue' and jumped up
to $8000. Neither Stella nor Ian surrendered and by the end of the round while
Harvey was still ahead he had $8800 to Stella's $5000 and Ian's $4200.
An opportunity presented itself
early for Stella in Double Jeopardy when she found the first Daily Double in SOME
SCIENCE. She was an engineer. She thought Ken was setting her up but she risked
the $6600:
"God bless this
radioactive element discovered in 1944 by a group of U.S. Scientists when they
bombarded plutonium with neutrons." She thought it was uranium when it
was americium and went all the way done to zero.
That could have killed some
contestants in their tracks. Stella began to rebuild, helped by four
consecutive correct answers that got her back up to $6400.
Harvey managed to maintain his
lead and then he got to the other Daily Double in 2020s VISION. He had $12,000
already so he bet $5000. It didn't work out any better for him then the
previous one for Stella:
"It's the somewhat
self-deprecating title of the bestselling 2023 memoir by Prince Harry."
Harvey: I don't know it. What is I
Hate Myself?"
There was laughter at this.
"No. That would be an arresting book title," Ken admitted. "Not
the heir but Spare."
Harvey was self-deprecating:
"I hate myself for missing that."
The game was fairly evenly fought.
Harvey got 15 correct responses and only two incorrect responses (including the
Daily Double he missed)which gave him $9800 by the end of Double Jeopardy. Ian
got 17 correct responses and two incorrect ones for $10,600. The Daily Double
she missed was Stella's sole mistake; she gave 20 correct responses to finish
with $14,000.
It came down to Final Jeopardy
again. The category was ENGLISH PLACE NAMES. "Once called Grontabricc,
its named for a structure spanning a tributary of the Great Ouse River."
Harvey's response was revealed
first: "What is Cambridge?" That was correct. According to Ken: "The Grontabricc was
the bridge over the Granta river, not the bridge over the Cam River."
Harvey bet everything putting him at $19,600.
Ian was next. He wrote down the
other major university: "What is Oxford?" It cost him $9001 and he
was out of it.
Stella had a good poker face. She
wrote down: "What is Cambridge?" It came down to her wager. She bet
$5601. The margin was one dollar but it was enough to make her the third and
last finalist.
Author's Note: I wrote down Knightsbridge.
I had the second half right.
So now after the last month and a
half we are down to the last three finalists playing for the last spot in the
Tournament of Champions. Unlike last year none of the Second Chance Winners
will have a chance to participate in the Tournament of Champions. Instead facing
off will be:
Jonathan Hugendubler: who dethroned Scott Riccardi.
Cameron Berry, who defeated Alex DeFrank but
lost to Josh Weikert.
Stella Trout, the player who had the highest
one game total of any player who just won one game this season.
Only one can move on to the
Tournament of Champions which starts Monday. I'll be back on Saturday with the
complete results of the two game final.
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