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Preliminaries: Kavanaugh/McDonald/Martinez -
May 12
Fifteen of the best Jeopardy! players this year
have returned for one more shot at $250,000. In the next two weeks, three will
play in a two-day final to determine who will walk away with the grand prize.
Another standard two-week affair awaits with an
increased minimum guarantee of $100,000 for second place and $50,000 for third. Semifinalists are guaranteed at least $10,000,
while quarterfinalists are guaranteed $5000 for participation. As always, any
and all winning accrued depends on how far up the ladder a player goes.
A correction from the last recap: it is Jason
Richards, not Kerry Breitenbach, who is on the outs in the wild-card. So far, Maria Wenglinsky, Kevin Marshall, Vik
Vaz, and David Madden have reserved their seats for the final. Who will join
them in the winners' circle on this, the 5000th Jeopardy! match?
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 |
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TOM KAVANAUGH
St. Louis
Kickball team captain
Eight days, $142,602 |
BILL MacDONALD
Bonita Springs, FL
Attorney
Four days, $75,399 |
NICO MARTINEZ
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Student
2005 College Champion |
Jeopardy! categories: The New York Times Book
Review, Road Trip USA, Historical Text Messaging, You Smell Delicious!, The
WGA's Top 101 Screenplays, Not Another Bughunt
Daily Double: $600 Historical Text Messaging. Bill ($3600 over Nico's $2600 and
Tom's $1400): "I will bet it all, thank you Alex." The clue: 323 BC: chrgd
w/impiety. nt ltng thm sin 2x vs. phlsphy. off 2 chalcis. lyceum ltr.
Bill's
response: "Who is Socrates?" Correct response: who is Aristotle? Bill
goes to zero.
End of round:
Tom: $1800
Bill: $3800
Nico: $4200
Double Jeopardy! categories: Chinese Culture, Rod Serling's Twilight Zone,
20th Century Foreigners, Bread, Literary Lineups, Prime (Minister) Rhyme.
Daily Double #1: $1600 Literary Lineups. Tom ($2200 to Bill's
$11,400 and Nico's $3000) bets it all. The clue: Carlo Marx, Remi Boncoeur,
Dean Moriarty. Tom's response: "What is 'Brave New World'?" Correct
response: what is "On the Road"? Tom drops to zero.
Daily Double #2: $1600 20th Century Foreigners. Nico ($3000 to Bill's $12,600 and
Tom's $2800) goes for broke.
The clue: He fled Iraq in 1959 after his attempt to assassinate Iraqi Prime
Minister Abdul Kassim failed. Nico's response: "Who is Carlos the Jackal?" Correct response:
Who is Saddam Hussein? Nico drops to zero this time.
End of round:
Tom: $6000
Bill: $15,000
Nico: $0
The best that Tom can do is go for a wild-card
spot.
Final Jeopardy! category: Islands. The clue: Davis Strait, named for a Northwest
Passage seeker, separates these 2 islands that total over 1 mil. sq. mi..
Correct response: What are Greenland and Baffin Island?
Tom's response: What are Greenland and Baffin? RIGHT. Wager: $4000. Total:
$10,000.
Bill’s response: What are Greenland and Baffin Island? RIGHT. Wager
doesn't matter.
 It
was over when Tom and Nico dropped off the map
competitively during the Double Jeopardy! Daily
Doubles. From then on, it was Bill's game to lose.
Other than that, this
was probably the most entertaining game to watch not
only for the game, but for the in-game interviews.
As for Tom, he just
should've bet it all. Then he'd come back. Instead,
we get this lot...
Next week, semifinal action leading to the
two-day final. Quite simply put... it's win... or go home. |
