Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Sept. 25

Introducing today's contestants:

- Alyssa, a media rights assistant, is into "needle felting";
- Julissa, an operations manager, has a "very bad" dog named Nash; and
- Sameer, a writer, has always loved to read. Sameer is a one-day champ with winnings of $22,200.


Julissa led the game a long way, but Sameer gradually pulled closer in DJ and took the lead into FJ with $15,200 vs. $13,200 for Julissa and $4,800 for Alyssa.

DD1, $800 - TRAVELING ON THE INTERSTATE - I-10 is nearly a mile high east of Tucson but below sea level in this city founded by de Bienville in 1718 (Julissa won $2,000 from her leading score of $4,400.)

DD2, $1,200 - PLAYS - Bradley Cooper used no makeup or prosthetics in the role of John Merrick in a Broadway revival of this play (Julissa won $2,000 from her total of $9,600 vs. $4,800 for Sameer.)

DD3 (video), $2,000 - ALL THINGS BELGIAN - Sint-Niklaas, Belgium as a museum of this Flemish cartographer who, around 1569, devised a way to depict a 3D globe on a 2D map (Sameer also decided to wager the default amount of $2,000 from his score $9,200 vs. $12,000 for Julissa, leaving him in second place when correct.)

FJ - HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES  - On the Forbes' 2020 list of 100 highest-paid athletes, at age 50 this active individual sportsman is the oldest

​​Everyone was incorrect on FJ. Sameer bet $0 from the lead, and the $15,200 win gives him a two day total of $37,400. Julissa wrote the correct first name, which is strange if she was running out of time because the first name is worthless, it's the last name that counts.

Very interesting wagering on FJ from all three players. Alyssa's best play would probably have been to bet $0, hope for Julissa to go big and for Sameer to cover Julissa, and for both opponents to miss.

Julissa should have wagered between $2,001 and $3,599, which would have shut out Alyssa and won her the game if correct, or if Sameer bet a sizable amount and missed. Sameer, who presumably hated the category, did the right thing by leaving it up to Julissa to get it correct to beat him.

Triple Stumper of the day: For a first-round clue about a "medieval magician", no one took an educated guess with Merlin.

​Correct Qs: DD1 - What is New Orleans? DD2 - What is "The Elephant Man"? DD3 - Who was Mercator? FJ - Who is Phil Mickelson? (Sameer wrote Mr. Magoo, which is clearly incorrect as although Magoo is a fine athlete, he's much older than 50.)