Tournament of Champions Game 5 Recap
Eric Ahasic vs Jaskaran Singh vs. Jackie Kelly
Game 3 was a photo finish between Tyler and Margaret and Game 4 was a runaway with a big Daily Double wager by John, surely Game 5 would be less exciting, right?
Outfit Details
Out of 10 men in the quarterfinals, only Eric and Jonathan did not wear a tie! I love his maroon sweater (which he wore during his original run) though so I can't complain! (And the megawatt smile doesn’t hurt!)
What a treat to see Jaskaran dressed up (the college contestants all wore college sweatshirts for their games). Love the red and black color combo, this is a great look!
Jackie wore a similar short sleeve black dress in her original run. Love the hair up in a sleek ponytail with the dangly earrings. And if my notes are accurate, she was even wearing heels (on a raised platform!)
Ken completed the week with yet another new tie! What better way to start off the Tournament of Champions than with 5 new ties. This will be a great addition to his rather extensive collection of blue ties.
Vibe Check
Eric - friendly
I guess “Minnesota Nice” is a thing for a reason! Eric has such an approachable, open vibe. He’s clearly a high level player but he doesn’t radiate intensity like some players do.
Jaskaran - laid back
Jaskaran was the youngest person in the tournament, which you’d think would be a little nerve-wracking! But he seemed very chill while also mature and confident.
Jackie - intense
Jackie used to run track and you can feel that athlete’s competitiveness when she plays. She stayed focused on the goal no matter what.
Mistakes and Retakes
Ken had to do a pickup on a mispronunciation of “pentaceratops” as “pentaKERAtops” - it sounded like maybe his pronunciation guide had it marked wrong.
Ken stumbled over “Gyeongbokgung Palace” and had to do a pickup on that, I think there were also a couple rereads of the “Royce Gracie” clue to get the name pronounced exactly how they wanted.
Interesting clues/categories
I don’t have to tell you that I LOVED the fashion category! (I didn’t quite run the category though - I missed Prada).
Several of the clues were very relevant, for example… well let me just show you the Amazon listing for the jacket I was wearing - cardigan & bolero in one title!
And before my trip I was shopping for new glasses on Zenni and considered several pairs from the Iris Apfel collection! It was so hard not to yell the answer when none of the contestants could come up with her name.
Triple Rhyme Time was fun (I wasn’t fast enough to get most of them but it was still fun!), and I knew 5/5 on the Musical Instruments category. Put fashion, musical instruments, and the astronomy category from Monday’s game on my dream board!
That back to back Daily Double swing was INCREDIBLE. I loved how Ken couldn’t even believe it and blurted out “Are you kidding me??”
The Well-Oiled Machine
Jackie took a LONG time on her wager and must have hit the “5 minute limit.” I’ve seen people speculate about how exactly the “time’s up” procedure works. Here’s my recollection of what happened in the studio:
( Jimmy McGuire (stage manager) told Corina Nusu (Contestant Producer) "Time’s up"
Corina went over and told Jackie "Jackie, we need you to lock in your wager."
Jackie looked *pained* and took a few seconds to look at her numbers, but started writing
I think there was a bit of back and forth like Jimmy saying "Corina, we need it locked in" and Corina saying "I know, she's writing!" but I didn’t note the exact wording/timing
So they were definitely ON it, but it wasn't like a timer buzzes and if your wager isn't locked you drop through the floor or something.
Here is a photo of exactly how I wrote this in my notes while we were waiting for Jackie’s wager.
During the break for wagers before Final Jeopardy, I wrote in my notes, “Watching the crew in action is magical.” It was starting to hit me at this point, after spending almost 7 hours on the Sony lot, how much carefully coordinated work really goes into making the half-hour of television we see every weeknight. Game shows seem so straightforward compared to a blockbuster movie or even a sitcom. There are no pyrotechnics, and Ken doesn’t need a stunt double (YET!)
Eric had drunk all of his tiny bottle of water and asked for another, someone brought him one before Final Jeopardy started, if I remember correctly.
Overheard Segment
This was one of my favorite Overheard Segments because MATH
Ken: [says something about wagering]
Eric: “You know how it is, doing math on national TV. I’ve taken differential calculus and this is way harder!”
Ken: “They should give advanced math degrees in Jeopardy! wagering!”
This is the end of the week in Jeopardy! Air Time, but in the studio we still had another quarterfinal to tape! I’ll be back Monday to recap Zach vs. Jessica vs. Sam.
Bonus
Here are some photos I took of the displays in the hallway after this game
I went through 3 bottles of water! I guzzled a whole one as soon as I got up there, got it replaced, then finished that one before we were done too. Between the COVID protocols and the nothing allowed in studio rules, it was so easy to get parched.