Here are today’s Champions Wildcard contestants:

– Ian Morrison, an airline ramp agent originally from Aurora, Colorado;
– Ryan Sharpe, a recent graduate from Oakville, Ontario; and
– James Corson, a nuclear engineer from Frederick, Maryland.

Jeopardy!

ALL THESE THINGS THAT I’VE DONE // ALLITERATION // BIBLICAL LANGUAGE // THAT’S FASHIONABLE // WHY NOT? FOOTBALL! // TEACHING TO THE TEST

DD1 – 600 – BIBLICAL LANGUAGE – An Israelite military leader lends his name to this species of yucca (Ian dropped 1,000.)

Scores at first break: James 3,200, Ryan 3,000, Ian 1,400.

Scores entering DJ: James 4,200, Ryan 6,400, Ian 3,600.

Double Jeopardy!

U.S. BODIES OF WATER // KNOWN WHEREABOUTS // ADAPTED FOR HIGH SCHOOL // THEY CALL ME MELLOW YELLOW // FANTASTIC TALES // TEACHING TO THE TEST

DD2 – 2,000 – U.S. BODIES OF WATER – Named for a duke, this nearly 700-mile-long river rises in Kentucky, flows through Tennessee, then back into Kentucky (Ryan improved by 6,174 to 15,374.)

DD3 – 1,600 – THEY CALL ME MELLOW YELLOW – At the turn of the 20th century, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World & this publisher’s New York Journal spread lurid yellow journalism (Ryan added 2,048 up to 21,022.)

Ryan scored on both DDs in DJ and had his spot wrapped up into FJ at 24,222 vs. 11,000 for James and 8,800 for Ian.

Final Jeopardy!

NOTABLE AMERICANS – Known in Mexican history as the sale of the Mesilla Valley, the 30,000-square-mile deal was negotiated by this U.S. diplomat

Both James and Ian went all-in. Ian and Ryan were correct, while unfortunately, James misspelled the correct response to the extent it wasn’t accepted, so only Ian advanced as a wild card along with winner Ryan.

Correct Qs: DD1 – What is Joshua tree? DD2 – What is Cumberland? DD3 – Who was Hearst? FJ – Who was Gadsden?