Please welcome today’s contestants:

– Theodore, an urban planner from California, liked the scenery in Utah;
– Stephanie, a social studies teacher from Colorado, was turned off to horror by the “Thriller” video; and
– Alex, a data scientist from Illinois, blinds people with data science and can count to three on her fingers. Alex is a three-day champ with winnings of $33,549.

Stephanie jumped into first place on DD3 and kept on building, showing the way into FJ with $15,000 vs. $8,800 for champ Alex and $5,400 for Theodore.

DD1, $600 – CLASSIC NOVELS – Esther Greenwood is a college student & aspiring poet in the 1950s who suffers a mental breakdown in this autobiographical novel (Theodore lost $400 from his score of $800.)

DD2, $1,600 – ALL ABOUT EVE – In genetics this “Eve” named for part of maternal DNA refers to the last common female ancestor of all modern humans (Alex won $3,000 from her total of $4,200 vs. $6,200 for Theodore.)

DD3, $800 – WHEN I WAS SECRETARY OF STATE… – I opposed slavery & got us what would be an entire state, though no one appreciated it at the time. Hurtful! (Stephanie won $3,000 from hr total of $7,200 vs. $7,400 for Theodore.)

FJ – LITERARY NEW YORK CITY – An insider described the scene there: “Just…loudmouths showing off, saving their gags for days, waiting to spring them”

Everyone was incorrect on FJ, despite that subject of the clue has been referred to on the show at least ten times in the past decade. Stephanie dropped $2,601 to win with $12,399.

Triple Stumper of the day: No one knew that Fort Knox is in Kentucky.

This day in Trebekistan: The host opened by scolding yesterday’s players (and maybe the judges?) for angering the home audience by not clearing the boards.

Correct Qs:
DD1 – What is “The Bell Jar”?
DD2 – What is Mitochondrial Eve?
DD3 – Who was Seward?
FJ – What is the Algonquin Round Table? (No, it was not “What are A.V. Club comment threads?”)