Jeopardy! recap for Tue., Feb. 19 – Here are today’s contestants:

– Dana, an educator from California, walked to another country for lunch in Africa;
– Matt, a writer-editor from Colorado, loves smashing pennies; and
– Rachel, a professor from New York, does indoor rock climbing. Rachel is a one-day champ with winnings of $8,400.

Both Dana and Rachel were well behind Matt when they each found a DD in DJ, and both declined the opportunity to make a big move, opting for small wagers. But Dana continued to rally, and thanks to Matt not properly phrasing a response late in the game, Dana held the lead into FJ with $14,400 vs. $13,200 for Matt and $10,000 for Rachel.

DD1 ($800) – OSCAR RECORDS – Winning for “The Miracle Worker”, Patty Duke is tied for the shortest Oscar speech: these two words (Matt won $1,400 – if he had bet his entire $3,000, it might have made the difference between winning and losing.)

DD2 ($1,200) – McPEOPLE – Randolph (aka Rand’l) was the head of this clan in Pike County, Kentucky (Rachel lost $2,000 with $6,000 to wager and trailing by exactly that amount.)

DD3 ($2,000) – AMERICAN LITERATURE – In Oz she’s the good witch who helps Dorothy get back to Kansas (Dana won $1,800 with a score of $6,600 and trailing by $5,400.)

FJ – BROADWAY MUSICALS – The title of this musical that opened in 1956 came from the last line of a nursery rhyme about a structure that spanned the Thames

Dana and Matt were correct on FJ, so Matt’s phrasing mistake wound up costing him the game as Dana added $12,001 to win with $26,401. Dana will return in two weeks after the All-Star Games, which begin tomorrow.

Triple Stumper of the day: No one guessed that the 1952 championship that Hank Aaron helped win was in the Negro leagues.

Pavlov: Montreal university = McGill.

This day in Trebekistan: Translation of Alex’s opening monologue – we weren’t being cheap by throwing hard FJs at players for the last two shows, so don’t blame us, the clues were easy enough, the contestants screwed up.

Correct Qs:
DD1 – What is “Thank you”?
DD2 – Who are the McCoys?
DD3 – Who is Glinda?
FJ – What is “My Fair Lady”?