Here are today’s contestants:

– Sarah, a writer-editor from Illinois, hopes to get her tap-dancing novel published;
– Holly, a stay-at-home mom from Florida, whose 2-year-old waves hello and goodbye to Alex; and
– Ryan, a student from Pennsylvania, lives in a 152-year-old Gettysburg house. Ryan is a two-day champ with winnings of $63,849.

Ryan opened up a lead with a double-up on DD1, extended the advantage on DD2, then Sarah got back into the game by doubling on DD3. Going into FJ it was Ryan with $25,200 vs. Sarah at $16,400 and Holly with $7,200.

DD1, $800 – VISIT A NATIONAL PARK – In 2019 vandalism during the govt. shutdown damaged many of these trees in their Mojave National Park (Ryan, an established fan of national parks, won $4,600 on a true DD.)

DD2, $1,600 – FICTIONAL LANGUAGE (note: the category wanted the authors who came up with the language) – Mangani, language of the apes (Ryan won $6,000 from his leading total of $10,800.)

DD3, $1,600 – MAMMALS – More than half the tigers left in the world are this subspecies from India (Sarah won $7,200 on a true DD vs. $25,200 for Ryan.)

FJ – NORTH AMERICAN CITIES – In 2017 this city celebrated its 375th birthday and the 50th anniversary of an event that made it an international tourist destination

Ryan and Sarah were correct on FJ, with Ryan adding $7,601 to win with $32,801 for a three-day total of $96,650.

That’s before our time: No one knew the late comic who worked himself into a scream as a teacher in “Back to School” was Sam Kinison.

This day in Trebekistan: Alex has a Final Jeopardy! dance and will not tolerate any implied criticism of the writers.

Correct Qs:
DD1 – What are Joshua trees?
DD2 – Who was Burroughs?
DD3 – What are Bengal tigers?
FJ – What is Montreal?