Please welcome today’s contestants:
– Kevin, a math teacher from Virginia, visited many national parks with his kids;
– Hannah, an engineering PhD student from California, is an accomplished fencer because it doesn’t use a ball; and
– Ryan, a student from Pennsylvania, won top prize at a costume party as Lincoln. Ryan is a three-day champ with winnings of $96,650.
It looked bleak for Ryan deep into DJ, but he was able to double up on DD3 and nailed the last two clues to lead into FJ with $17,600 vs. $12,400 for Kevin and $8,800 for Hannah.
DD1, $1,000 – A LABYRINTHINE CATEGORY – The 4 famous labyrinths mentioned by Pliny the Elder were in Italy, Egypt, Lemnos & of course, this Greek island (Kevin won $1,000 from his leading total of $6,600.)
DD2, $1,600 – PLASMA – Most of the visible universe, like the sun & stars, is plasma; on Earth you’ll see it in lightning & these polar spectacles (Hannah lost $2,000 from her score of $10,400 vs. $14,400 for Kevin.)
DD3 (video), $1,200 – PICTURE IN PICTURE – The Antwerp museum of this Flemish artist has a depiction of the collection of his friend, Cornelis van der Geest (Ryan won $7,000 on a true DD vs. $14,400 for Kevin with just two other clues remaining.)
FJ – ANCIENT TIMES – In 1955 King Paul of Greece unveiled a statue of this hero near the cliffs where he died in the 5th century B.C.
Everyone was incorrect on FJ and Ryan had enough to hang on, dropping $7,201 to win with $10,399 for a four-day total of $107,049.
Clue selection strategy: All three DDs were located in categories that were untouched until the end of the rounds, yet the players insisted on starting at the top each time instead of shopping in the higher-value clues.
That’s before our time: No one knew the lead role in a 1962 biopic starring Peter O’Toole was Lawrence of Arabia.
Shameless shilling: There was a category devoted to big-box stores, and one clue for Petco featured the store’s logo.
This day in Trebekistan: Hannah might have won $0 on FJ, but she earned something much more valuable than money: the scorn of Trebek.
Correct Qs:
DD1 – What is Crete?
DD2 – What are auroras?
DD3 – Who was Rubens?
FJ – Who was Leonidas?