Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Feb. 2 – Introducing today’s contestants:

– Jenny, a literature instructor from New York, NY, who is an expert in opera translation;
– Caitlin, an archivist from Madison, WI, who knows what “redrum” means; and
– Ryan, a banker from SeaTac, WA, who loves Trebek’s “X-Files” episode. Ryan is a four-day champ with $90,198.

Ryan’s tendency to make wild guesses finally caught up to him here, putting him into a hole of which he was never completely able to climb out. He would need to be correct on FJ and get some help from his opponents to have a chance at $4,200 vs. $13,000 for Jenny and $9,000 for Caitlin.

DD1 – WORLD CAPITALS ALPHABETICALLY – Right before Bern on the list is this city, just 600 miles away (Ryan lost $1,000)

DD2 (video) – ROAMIN’ CATHOLICS – The Camino Ignaciano is the route of St. Ignatius from this hometown to Manresa, where he awoke spiritually (Ryan lost $2,000)

DD3 – BUD – This 3-word perennial, genus myosotis, wants you to remember that its pink buds produce blue flowers (Ryan won $2,000)

FJ – OFFICIAL STATE STUFF – Composers of this State’s various official songs include Richard Rodgers & Woody Guthrie

Ryan was the only player correct on FJ and doubled up, but it appeared that Caitlin made the winning move with a wager of just $599 to stay ahead of Ryan by $1. Then Jenny shocked everyone with a bet of only $1,101, saving the victory with $11,899.

Jenny’s FJ strategy here is very much underutilized for this situation. Given that Caitlin had just over double of Ryan’s score and was within two-thirds of Jenny, there was every reason to believe that Caitlin might make a small bet. By also making a small wager, Jenny would win if Caitlin missed OR made a tiny wager (as it played out, she did both), without having to be correct herself.

Triple Stumper of the day: No one knew the “Runnin’ With the Devil” foursome is Van Halen.

Correct Qs:

DD1 – What is Berlin?
DD2 – What is Loyola?
DD3 – What is a forget-me-not?
FJ – What is Oklahoma?