No no no no drama

     Before I watched, I thought something special happened on today's episode, as I noticed there were more posts than usual on the Jeopardy! message boards for that early in the day.  Also, I read on the thread where we post our Coryat scores that one guy had his highest score ever.  So I was eager to see what was going on.
     Today's contestants:

Evan Sandman

Emily Gifford

Dave Burnstein

     Sandman came into today's game a one-time champ, defeating Sunny Stalter yesterday.
     The first category revealed today was Ballet It on Thick.  I was actually kinda happy about this when I wouldn't have been before, because I just looked today at some ballet questions in the course of my Jeopardy! studies.  I hadn't gone in depth, but I thought maybe it would still help.  I wound up missing only this one read by Kelly, at the bottom of the category: "The Dance Theater of Harlem has brought ballet around the world, including giving China's first performance of this 1910 Stravinsky work with an elusive title character."  This category was one of four where I missed only one.
     Evan found the Daily Double in the ballet category before the first break.  Each contestant was off to a pretty good start.  Evan had 1200, Dave had 600, and Emily had 1400.  Mr. Trebek said Evan looked "altogether too serious." What?  If you've been watching you know that Evan often wears a goofy expression, and hasn't looked serious!  (See the photo above!)  In fact I noticed that Emily looked quite serious.  (See her photo above.)  Evan wagered everything on this clue:  "Prince Siegfried finds romance is for the birds (like Odette) in this 19th century ballet."  Evan got it right.  At the first break, Evan had 4400, Dave had 1400, and Emily had 2000.
     I was happy to get this triple-stumper in Husbandry (in fact I swept the category): "Life as Fergie knows it includes marriage to this star of 'Life as We Know It.'"  I didn't notice til I replayed it Mr. Trebek's funky pronunciation of the correct response!  It's two syllables, not three.
     At the end of the round, Evan had 7000, Dave had 2400, and Emily had 4200.
     Emily went on a tear in the Double Jeopardy round, sweeping Designing Women.  She led, then by 4800. I only missed this one in that category: "Kate Middleton's wedding dress was designed by Sarah Burton of this late British designer's fashion house."
     Evan responded in kind by sweeping Dynasty.  He led, then, by 400!  The next clue was the Daily Double, in Cheers.  Evan had 17400, Dave had 1200, and Emily had 17000.  Evan wagered 2000.  (I suspect, by the way, that all the fuss on the message boards is related to the Daily Double and Final Jeopardy wagers.)  This was the clue: "Yalies once cheered, 'Brek-ek-ek-ex, ko-ax, ko-ax,' the chorus of these creatures in an Aristophanes play."  I'd never have gotten this, but Evan did.
     I got this triple-stumper in The Facts of Life: "Visual purple is a photosensitive pigment found in the rod-shaped cells of this part of the eye."
     For some reason I thought we were out of Daily Doubles, but there was one left, in The Facts of Life.  It was the last clue of the round, and Evan found it.  He had 23800, Dave still had 1200, and Emily still had 17000.  Oh, the drama!  What would you wager?  I decided on 6000, if I were in Evan's shoes, but that may not be sound.  I'm dying to read the thread on the message boards!  Evan wagered 4000.  This was the clue: "The name of this portion of the brainstem means 'the long marrow.'"  I shouldn't have missed this, but I did.  Evan got it right.  At the end of the round, then, he had 27800, Emily had 17000, and Dave had 1200.
     The Final Jeopardy category today was Children's Lit.  This was the clue: "This classic book begins, 'The pretty little Swiss town of Mayenfeld lies at the foot of a mountain range.'"  This was an "insta-get" for me, but I did question right through to the end of the 30 seconds.  Dave's incorrect guess was "Swiss Family Robinson."  He lost everything.  (I'd probably have wagered nothing.)  Emily got it right, and added 16800 to her score!  Mr. Trebek and I expected Evan to get it right.  Like yesterday, his face was a fake-out, but this time he missed it.  He guessed "Pippi Longstocking."  He wagered, incidentally 6201.  But he still looked happy as he applauded for Emily!    
     My Coryat was 23200.  Bravo once again to j-archive.com, which has today's scores posted already!  Evan's was 24800, Dave's was 1200 (how appropriate!), and Emily's was 17000 (also appropriate!)  I'm quite eager to see how my Coryats compare to the contestants in the next two weeks: The. Tournament. Of. Champions!  Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be able to blog in-depth for the first four nights the tournament!  I will try to write a quick blurb each night, though.
     Recent Coryats:
10-26: Abigail Gardner 3000     Ryan McCune 10000     Gabor Vari 20200     Me 37000
10-27: Alex Johnson 3600     Sunny Stalter 14000     Gabor Vari 10600     Me 16000
10-28: John Jordan 9000     Helaine Greenfeld 6400     Sunny Stalter 8000     Me 20000
10-29 (originally 11-24-05): Wendy Stancer 7000   Ben Davis 6200   Bill MacDonald 17600    Me 12400
10-30 (originally 11-25-05): Pat Godwin 8000    Robert J. Lee 10800   Bill MacDonald 20600   Me 25400
10-31: Evan Sandman 18000     Gina Harris 10600     Sunny Stalter 13600     Me 20600