Jeopardy! recap for Wed., Oct. 19

 Here are the players for day three of Jeopardy! Second Chance:

- Pam Schoenberg, a dentist & entrepreneur, whose episode won the Emmy for Jeopardy!;

- Renée Russell, a branch office administrator, had "Jeopardy! Tommy John" surgery according to Ken; and

- James Fraser, a naval aviator, almost thought the e-mail inviting him back to the show deserved to be in the spam folder. 

Jeopardy! 

A PLACE IN HISTORY // TV // WRITERS' MIDDLE NAMES // HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES // HOME COMPUTING // DEVOURING EATING IDIOMS

DD1 - $1,000 - HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES - Alaska celebrates the last Monday in March as this onetime U.S. Secretary of State's day (On the first clue of the game, James won the window maximum of $1,000.)

Scores going into DJ: James $8,800, Renée $1,000, Pam $4,600.

Double Jeopardy! 

WHAT A BUTTE! // THE PARENT COMPANY // SCIENCE & NATURE // ADJECTIVES // FAITH, HOPE & CHARITY // SECOND CHANCE SONGS

DD2 - $1,600 - WHAT A BUTTE! - Grizzly Bear Lodge is another name for this butte that rises 1,267 feet above Wyoming (On his first selection of the round and the third pick overall, James added $3,699 to his total of $10,000 vs. $5,800 for Pam.)

DD3 - $2,000 -  ADJECTIVES - A synonym for "absurd", it's from the Latin for "with the rear part first" (Renée lost $5,000 from her third-place score of $5,400.)

James was solidly in control the entire way, but Pam managed to stay within two-thirds of his score going into FJ with James at $20.899 vs. Pam with $15,400. Renée, who took a big loss on DD3, ended in the red at -$800.

Final Jeopardy!

AMERICAN HISTORY - Ben Franklin, John Adams & John Jay succeeded as a trio in this city, though Adams wrote of fearing the other 2 would gang up on him

Only James was correct on FJ, adding $10,902 to advance with $31,801. James will return tomorrow to face Jessica and Molly in the first contest of a two-game competition with a ToC invite on the line.

Odds and Ends

Triple Stumper of the day: No one recognized a photo of actor Andre Braugher.

FJ wagering strategy: Pam's bet of $5,500 was designed to be enough to pass James if she was correct and James bet $0. However, it was also enough that if they both missed, Pam would lose if James bet just enough to cover double of her score. Since the latter is the far more likely scenario, a smaller wager on Pam's part would have been the percentage play.

Judging the judges: Ken hesitated a bit before accepting Pam's response of "Groundhog's Day". In this case the judges must have felt adding the "s" at the end was OK.

Correct Qs: DD1 - Who was Seward? DD2 - What is Devils Tower?  DD3 - What is preposterous? FJ - What is Paris?