Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Apr. 19 – Introducing today’s contestants:

– Gabby, a public affairs manager from Nevada, was bribed by her mom to take Italian with a trip to Italy;
– Nate, an actuary from California, won $30,000 on Sports Jeopardy!; and
– James, a professional sports gambler from Nevada, wasn’t impressed by the taste of scorpion and the jury’s out on the effectiveness of bull testicles. James is an eleven-day champ with winnings of $771,920.

James got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, in the red at one point and with only $5,400 after round one. But that all changed with wins on both DDs in DJ leading to another runaway at $45,000 vs. $4,800 for Gabby and $2,200 for Nate.

DD1, $800 – PHRASE ORIGINS – 19th century exhibitions saw fire brigades competing either using water, or in one of these, now a term for a practice effort (“Oh shucks”, James went all-in for $1,800 and missed.)

DD2, $1,200 – THE END – Of the middle ages: maybe this major change in Christianity that began in 1517 (James shoved for $8,200 and was correct.)

DD3, $800 – BALLET – At 19 Alessandra Ferri was the Royal Ballet’s youngest with this Italian title; at 54, she was its oldest since Margot Fonteyn (James bet big despite previously going 0-for-3 in the category, winning $15,000 from his score of $28,400.)

FJ – BRITISH MONARCHS – A “VI” has followed these 3 royal names of English kings

Only James was correct on FJ (Nate chose to write a lengthy tribute to his wife), adding $35,006 to win with $80,006 for a twelve-day total of $851,926.

Triple Stumper of the day: There were far more to choose from here than in any game with James to date. I’ll go with the players not getting the word for a surgeon made up of a cutting tool and body parts, “sawbones”.

This day in Trebekistan: Alex really likes having James there!

Correct Qs:
DD1 – What is a dry run?
DD2 – What is the Reformation?
DD3 – What is prima ballerina?
FJ – What are Henry, George and Edward?