4/7/2014

In this episode of Jeopardy we met three knowledgeable contestants, Johnathan Kuehnle,Michelle Leppert, and returning champion Amy Nienaber. Ms. Nienaber had a 2-day cash winning total of $51,000 dollars going into her third round of Jeopardy.

Alex Tribek, the renowned game show host opened his show by talking about the upcoming battle of the decades, and reassuring the television audience that they knew who the 15 contestants would be. Then Alex and the contestants started the Jeopardy round. Here were the topics to choose from, Ice Cream Parlor Words, Innovation, Author's Plots, Guitars, T.V. Hosts By Initials and The USS Olympia.

As returning champion, Amy got to make the first selection and chose Author's Plots for $200 dollars. The answer to the question-which read: The grave markers for he and his wife bear the names of 2 middle-earth characters-was J.R.R. Tolken. Amy continued in the Author's plots category, nabbing the $400 dollar clue, missing the $600 dollar clue, and losing the $800 dollar clue to Michelle.

Michelle then continued on to the $1000 dollar clue which was a Daily Double. This popular clue allows a contestant to risk part or all of their allotted winnings, or up to a $1000 dollars, if they haven't reached that amount yet. Michelle had $800, risked $1000 and couldn't come up with the name of the Author whose monument in New York is 2 fathoms tall, Mark Twain.

Michelle then picked Innovation for $200, which Amy promptly jumped on, giving Benjamin Franklin his due for the stove and the lightning rod. Johnathan finally joined the game with the answer to the $400 dollar Innovation clue, Graphics User Interface, or GUI.  The next Innovation clue, for $600 dealt with the drug coated tubes that are used to keep collapsed or clogged arteries open, these tubes are known as stents. Former Vice President Al Gore had the clue for the $800 dollar Innovation clue, whose answer was “What is a Gnome.” The $1000 clue in the Innovation section had to do with controlling and using fire, to which the answer was, “Who is Homo Erectus.”

Amy blitzed through the first two clues on the guitar but stumbled on the $800 dollar clue to which the answer was “Who is Leo Fender.” No one claimed the $1000 dollar clue, and the contestants went on to T.V. Hosts by Initials, to which Amy snagged the first $200 dollar clue for “Who is Tom Burgeron.” Amy also got the $400 dollar clue. She went on to correctly guess the $600 and $800 dollar clues, but no one was able to snag the $1000 clue for Extra: co-host, X-Factor: Host: M.L., to which the answer was, “Who is Mario Lopez.”

All three contestants correctly guessed clues for Ice Cream Parlor Words and Amy continued her commanding lead into The USS Olympia. The first three clues to The USS Olympia part of the Jeopardy round were split between Johnathan and Michelle, but the time buzzer ended the round early to go to break and come back for the Double Jeopardy round.

The Double Jeopardy round had these topics to choose from: Born to be Wild, “Com” to me, Quotable Quotes, The Beautiful Blue Danube, A League, and Of Theron. All three contestants got in on Johnathan's choice of “Com” to me, but Michelle ruled the section with three of the five correct answers. Michelle owned the Quotable Quotes section as well and pulled another Daily Double on the $2000 dollar clue. She risked $3000 of her $8600 dollar total and lost it on a clue to which the answer-the greatest week in history since the creation-was, “What is 1969” because of the moon landing.

All three contestants had fun guessing the miniature, “baby” versions of animals from around the world in-Born to be Wild, and Amy kept her lead, although Michelle was close behind. The League category went quickly to all three contestants, but Johnathan owned The Beautiful Blue Danube, by guessing the $600, $800, $1600 and $2000 dollar clues, and quickly catching Amy. He also scored the next Daily Double, to which he risked, $2000. With a deep breath he slowly guessed, “What is Ukraine”  and was rewarded with a slow assurance from Alex to gain a nice $4000 dollar bump in his total, effectively putting him in the lead. Amy nabbed the $1200 clue for The Beautiful Blue Danube, and the game was definitely on. At the end of the Double Jeopardy round the contestants ran very close totals with Amy still barely in the lead with $12,800, Michelle right behind her with $12, 400, and Johnathan a very close third with $12,200.

The Final Jeopardy round category was Food and Drink. The clue stated, “The corporate website for this product, states that it leaves it's container at .028 miles per hour.” The answer was, Heinz Ketchup, to which both Johnathan and Michelle guessed correctly. With just a $300 dollar separation between them, Michelle was in the lead when the time came for Amy's response. She unfortunately guessed Reddi Whip, and lost $12,200 dollars of her original total. And for this round of Jeopardy, Michelle became the new Jeopardy champion.