Finals
Recap
Cameron
Berry vs Jonathan Hugendubler vs. Stella Trout
Game
1
Cameron managed to get to the
Daily Double in the Jeopardy round almost immediately in AMERICAN HISTORY. The
only one with money at the time, he bet $1400:
"This latest (1992)
Constitutional Amendment is partly due to a college sophomore who noticed it
had sat unratified for 2 centuries."
Cameron guessed the 23rd
Amendment; it was the 27th. Back to zero he went, but not for long.
Stella and Cameron went back and forth for the lead much of the way while
Jonathan spent a fair about of the round in the red. In the end Cameron
finished the round with $5600 to Stella's $2400 while Jonathan finished with
$600.
In Double Jeopardy Cameron built
his lead and kept it for the lion's share of the round. It took a very long
time for the Daily Doubles to be found and by the time Stella got to the first
one in CENSUS WORKING OVERTIME she had $10,400 to Cameron's $12,400.
(By the way I would appreciated
if someone could explain the reference in Double Jeopardy. We had the
categories MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL, CENSUS WORKING OVERTIME and finally THE
ECSTASY OF 'X-T-C'. I could look up the reference but today I'm being lazy. And
now back to the recap.)
"Officially 'The
Description of England, this survey began in 1066 & is actually 2 volumes –
one little & one great."
It took Stella a moment before
she made a guess: "What is the Domesday Book?" It was the right one;
she gained $6000 and moved into the lead with $16,400.
A few clues later Jonathan found
the other Daily Double in CELEB HYPHENATES. This was not a good day for
Jonathan; he only had $1800 by this point so he had no choice but to wager the
$2000 he was allowed.
"'I am Moana' is one of
many songs written by this versatile guy for a 2016 film."
Jonathan had no idea this
referred to Lin-Manuel Miranda (I didn't either) so he dropped to -$200. It was
now a matter of whether Jonathan would be around to compete in Final Jeopardy
at the end of Game 1. He was with $600. However Stella was in the lead with
$16,800 and Cameron was next with $16,400.
The Final Jeopardy category for
Game 1 was a familiar one: U.S. GEOGRAPHY. "The 2 states that border
the most others, they border each other along a roughly 60-mile stretch between
Kentucky & Arkansas."
This was one of those clues that
everybody knew one of the states but only one player knew both. (I was one of
the former as you'll see.)
Jonathan's response was revealed
first: "What are Missouri & Tennessee?" That was correct; they
each border 8 states. Jonathan did what he needed to do and bet everything. He
had $1200.
Cameron wrote down: "What
are Ohio and Tennessee?" Obviously that was incorrect. He lost $6400
putting him at $10,000.
Stella wrote down one and thought
for a long time. "What is Tennessee and Nebraska?" She wagered $4000.
At the end of Game 1 Stella is in
the lead with $12,800 to Cameron's $10,000 and Jonathan's $1200. Considering
how relatively low the scores are, Jonathan was in a disadvantage but as we've
seen time and again (as recently as the first week of this year's Second Chance
Tournament) this is still anyone's game to win.
(By the way I also wrote down
Tennessee but I thought the other state was Oklahoma.)
Game
2
In the deciding game it was hard
thought early in the Jeopardy round. Stella managed to ring it at the right
time in order to find the Daily Double in ADULTS IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. With
only $600 in front of her she bet $1000:
"The first book about him
says right off that he's an M.D., a 'proper' doctor (not a veterinarian). She
figured out it was Doctor Doolittle and moved up $1600. By the first commercial
she was in the lead and she maintained it. She finished the round with $7200 to
Cameron's $4000 and Jonathan's $3800.
Jonathan found the first Daily
Double on his first pick in Double Jeopardy. Giving how badly he was trailing
at the end of Game 1 he had no choice but to bet everything in WORLD CAPITALS:
"You need 2 sets of double
letters to spell this capital of a Baltic state."
Somehow he figured out it was
Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) and moved into the lead with $7600.
Much of the next several clues
was a back and forth for the lead between Jonathan and Stella and she found the
other Daily Double in MAKING CONSERVATION when she was in the lead with $11,200.
Despite her erratic history with Daily Doubles she shrugged and said: "Go
big or go home" and bet everything.
Within the Department of the Interior,
this is the country's oldest conservation agency.
She hesitated a long time before
guessing: "What's the National Park Service?" That's what I thought
it was but apparently the Fish and Wildlife Service is older. She dropped to
zero.
Stella would recover from this though
she never regained the lead. She managed 21 correct answers and only three incorrect
ones (the Daily Double among them) finishing with $6400. Cameron managed 18
correct answers and two incorrect ones for a total of $10,000. Jonathan managed
only eleven correct answers but made no mistakes to finish in the lead at the
end of Game 2 with $12,000. It was anybody's game going into the last Final Jeopardy.
The Final Jeopardy category
sounded simple: AMERICAN NOVELISTS. The clue was anything but:
This author's wish to use
different ink colors to represent multiple points-of-view was granted in 2012,
83 years after the novel's publication.
Stella's response was revealed
first: "Who is Walker?" She might have been thinking of Alice Walker
and that was incorrect. She bet $6300, leaving her with $100. Her two day total
was $12,900.
Cameron was next: "Who is
Stein?" Also incorrect. He bet $5601, leaving him with $4399. He was
clearly trying to beat Stella, his nearest opponent, if she bet everything by
one dollar in her two day total. He was now in the lead with $14,399.
It came down to Jonathan. He
needed a correct response to win no matter what he wagered. He wrote down:
"Who is Fitzgerald?" (That's who I thought it was.) That was
incorrect. The novel in question was The Sound and the Fury which has
many narrators and 2012 it was finally published as William Faulkner had
wished.
Jonathan did what he knew he
needed to do and risked everything. It didn't work out and as a result Cameron
Berry had managed to come from behind twice to win $100,000 and the last spot
in the Tournament of Champions.
Of all the players coming into
the finals Cameron was both the least likely to prevail and the most fitting.
Jonathan had managed the only runaway victory of the finalists and had responded
correctly on the most Final Jeopardys. He got three correct while Stella got
two and Cameron only one – in the game he prevailed in. Stella had managed to
come from behind from getting wrong multiple Daily Doubles to win both her quarterfinal
and semi-final game.
But Cameron was the only finalist
to get into the semifinals by – wait for it – a wild card spot. And his
narrative fits the upcoming Tournament of Champions well: he ended Alex DeFrank's
run only to lose to Josh Weikert.
Cameron Berry has now gained the
last spot in the Tournament of Champions. On Monday we begin the process of
seeing who will be the ultimate winner. I will be back on Monday January 26th
with the results of the quarterfinal round.
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