TV

Jeopardy! recap for Wed., May 21

Here are today’s contestants:

  • Sam Macken, an orchestral musician from Boulder, Colorado;
  • Romy Negrin, a graduate student from New York City; and
  • Brendan Liaw, a recent graduate and stay-at-home son from Vancouver, British Columbia. Brendan is a one-day champ with winnings of $13,599.

Jeopardy!

AMERICA: A LOOK BACK // ADJECTIVES // ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON FILM // “J” STORE // THE HIGHEST POPULATION IN THE STATE // SEEK & YE SHALL FIND

DD1 – $600 – THE HIGHEST POPULATION IN THE STATE – A city with this name has the highest population in 2 coastal states (Sam dropped $1,000.)

Scores at first break: Brendan $6,000, Romy $800, Sam -$1,200.

Scores entering DJ: Brendan $8,400, Romy $1,800, Sam -$600.

Double Jeopardy!

PEOPLES OF THE WORLD // AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION // GEOLOGIC TIME DIVISIONS AS FRIENDS EPISODE TITLES // FACTS ABOUT AUTHORS // MIDCENTURY MUSIC // THAT’S “SUPER”

DD2 – $1,200 – PEOPLES OF THE WORLD – This people of Montana called themselves by a word for “people of the large-beaked bird”; whites knew them as just this bird (Brendan added $4,400 to his score of $14,400 vs. $6,600 for Romy.)

DD3 – $1,600 – GEOLOGIC TIME DIVISIONS AS FRIENDS EPISODE TITLES – The Carnian Pluvial episode: “The One Where It” did this “for 2 Million Years” (Sam moved into second by adding $2,000 to his total of $5,800 vs. $20,800 for Brendan.)

Brendan dominated the proceedings throughout, but Romy stayed in the game and entered FJ with exactly half of Brendan’s score at $12,600 vs. $25,200 for Brendan and $10,600 for Sam.

Final Jeopardy!

WORLD NEWS 2024 – Headlines read of the fall of Hama on December 5, Homs on December 7 & this city on December 8

Everyone was incorrect on FJ. Brendan wagered $1, winning with $25,199 for a two-day total of $38,798.

Final scores: Brendan $25,199, Romy $0, Sam $1.

Wagering strategy: If Sam had gone all-in on DD3 from a distant third, he would have had enough to win if he had come up with a correct response to FJ. Instead with his $2,000 wager on DD3, he was out of the running for the win on FJ. On a positive note, Sam held back $1 on FJ, and it was one of the rare instances where this tactic actually paid off.

Judging the writers: The way DD1 is phrased is confusing, as it sounds like they’re talking about one city, rather than two cities with the same name.

One more thing: Surprised that DJ category wasn’t GEOLOGIC TIME DIVISIONS AS TED LASSO EPISODE TITLES.

Correct Qs: DD1 – What is Portland? DD2 – What is Crow? DD3 – What is rain? FJ – What is Damascus? (Romy responded with the Gary Johnson classic “What is Aleppo?”)