Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Jul. 28 (season finale)

 Introducing today's contestants:

- Monika, a career education librarian, stood in line to see Santa at the mall;

- Sharon, a high school Spanish teacher, sang backup for Barry Manilow; and

- Lucas, a school counselor, learned to cook from watching TV as a child. Lucas is a two-day champ with winnings of $42,200.

Jeopardy! 

TALKING ABOUT WOMEN // WORKING WORDS // BREEDS OF SHEEP // MESSIN' WITH TEXAS // IT GETS OLD // REAL FAST

DD1 - $600 - WORKING WORDS - Referring to writers & others who are self-employed & work job to job, it was first used of mercenary knights (Lucas dropped $2,400 on a true DD.)

Scores at first break: Lucas $1,000, Sharon $600, Monika $1,400.

Scores going into DJ: Lucas $5,200, Sharon $5,000, Monika $1,200.

Double Jeopardy! 

ON THE MONEY // BRITISH LITERATURE // NATIONAL ANTHEMS // IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU // ACTORS // "CC" ME

DD2 - $1,600 - NATIONAL ANTHEMS - This anthem was made official in a decree of July 14, 1795 (Sharon added $2,000 to her total of $13,400 vs. $9,600 for Lucas.)

DD3 - $1,600 - BRITISH LITERATURE - In the 1850s she published the book-length love poem "Aurora Leigh" (Sharon lost $2,000 from her score of $19,000 vs. $10,000 for Lucas.)

Sharon began to draw away in DJ, but Lucas managed to stay close enough to keep the game alive into FJ with Sharon at $17,000, Lucas with $12,000 and Monika at $1,200.

Final Jeopardy!

WORD ORIGINS - Theories on the origin of this, a style of journalism, include Cajun slang for unhinged jazz & Boston slang for a person on a bender

Only Lucas was correct on FJ, doubling up to win with $24,000 for a three-day total of $66,200.

Final scores: Lucas $24,000, Sharon $9,999, Monika $0.

Odds and Ends

Triple Stumpers of the day: No one knew the speedy nickname of hockey's Maurice Richard was "Rocket", or the "cc" word that the American Cancer Society says you should "stay away from" is tobacco.

FJ wagering strategy: By Sharon missing DD3 and Lucas getting the last clue of DJ correct, he was able to move to within two-thirds of Sharon's score, meaning that with a small wager he could likely win if Sharon missed without having to be correct himself. Instead, Lucas chose to force himself to be correct to have a chance to win by betting everything, a gamble which paid off.

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is freelance? DD2 - What is "La Marseillaise"? DD3 - Who was Elizabeth Barrett Browning? FJ - What is gonzo?