Jeopardy! recap for Mon., Dec. 18 – It was a fight between champ Denise and Kate most of the way, as Ben was hampered by incorrect guesses and was far back for most of DJ. But after hitting DD3, Ben went on a sudden rampage, coming from nowhere to take the lead going into FJ with $12,200 vs. $11,200 for Kate and $10,600 for Denise.

DD1 – THE PERKS OF BEING A WILDFLOWER – Being one of these long-lived types that survive from season to season, like some species of aster (Denise lost $600)

DD2 – STATE FLAGS – On its flag, an elk & a moose stand beside a shield depicting a lake & a peninsula (Kate won $3,000)

DD3 – PHILIP K. DICK – Psychics called precogs can see future crimes before they happen in this PKD short story (Ben won $800)

FJ – ART – Perhaps bought from a Sears catalog, a window for an 1880s farmhouse inspired the name of this 1930 painting

This FJ was about one of the show’s favorite works of art and both Kate and Denise were correct, with Kate adding $9,800 to win with $21,000.

For some reason, Kate didn’t quite bet enough to cover double of Denise’s score, so Denise leaving some cash on the table in case of a Triple Stumper worked in Kate’s favor. Also, Ben must have not felt good about the category, since he took the unusual approach of wagering $0 from the lead with two opponents close behind him.

That’s before our time: The players didn’t remember the 1970s space station and fell from orbit and came apart as Skylab.

Product placement dept.: There was a clue about the new Sony sequel to Jumanji, complete with tacky animated animals running across the bottom of the screen. Still not quite as annoying as the one with Smurfs a while back.

Persistance doesn’t always pay: In a sports category, Ben twice responded with “wrestling”, even though “cauliflower ear” was the only one of the six items in the clues that would fit. Given that he bet nothing on FJ, he might as well have written “What is wrestling?” for that too.

Correct Qs:

DD1 – What is a perennial?
DD2 – What is Michigan?
DD3 – What is “Minority Report”?
FJ – What is “American Gothic”?