Today’s contestants are:
- Michael, a screenwriter, lived on free food in D.C.;
- Marisa, a senior staffing services associate, won the Swedish lottery; and
- Aaron, a business litigation attorney, won a rowing machine at age 12. Aaron is a two-day champ with winnings of $51,254.
Aaron missed on both of his DD opportunities but was still able to maintain first place into FJ with $13,800 vs. $11,600 for Michael and $9,200 for Marisa.
DD1 (video) – $1,000 – SHEDDING LIGHT – Visit San Antonio and you can see a big mosaic of the Virgin Mary shaped like one of these prayer candles (Aaron lost $1,000 from his leading score of $6,800.)
DD2 – $1,600 – FILMS OF THE 80s – Its ensemble cast included William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Glenn Close & Meg Tilly (On the first clue of DJ, Michael won $2,600 on a true DD vs. $6,600 for Michael.)
DD3 – $800 – HISTORY – One of Russia’s foremost reformers, he was proclaimed Imperator in 1721 (Aaron lost $4,000 from his total of $14,200 vs. $9,200 for Michael.)
FJ – LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES – Losing its ocean access in 1993, this African Union member is the most populous landlocked nation, with 110 million people
Everyone was incorrect on FJ. Michael dropped by just $2,399 to come out on top with $9,201.
Wagering strategy: On FJ, Michael had to choose between betting to cover a possible double-up by Marisa, or making a small wager to force Marisa to be correct with a non-zero bet to pass him.
As it played out, Marisa did go for the double-up, so Michael’s strategy would have backfired if both he and Marisa were correct. While perhaps not making the best read on how much Marisa would wager, Michael did make the right assessment of the difficulty of the category, earning him several thousand additional dollars in winnings.
Triple Stumper of the day: In the “dis” category, no one could identify the highly contagious feline disease as distemper.
Correct Qs: DD1 – What is a votive? DD2 – What is “The Big Chill”? DD3 – Who was Peter the Great (Peter I)? FJ – What is Ethiopia?