Three fresh faces graced the Jeopardy! stage Monday night: Lisa O’Donnell, an ESL teacher from Vienna, Virginia; Bill McKinney, a restaurant and bar VP originally from Boston, Massachusetts; and two-day champion Dave Bond, a retired grant writer from West Henrietta, New York, carrying a respectable $51,400 in winnings. The categories, ranging from “Those Etruscan Darners” to “Mortal Matters,” hinted at a night of eclectic trivia.
McKinney quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with, strategically leveraging Daily Doubles in “Mortal Matters” and “Alliterative Movie Titles” to amass a commanding lead. O’Donnell and Bond held their own for a while, but a costly misstep by O’Donnell on a Daily Double concerning the word “mellifluous” proved difficult to overcome. Going into Final Jeopardy!, McKinney’s advantage seemed insurmountable.
The Final Jeopardy! category, “Islands of Europe,” presented a convoluted clue about a French attack in 1793. The confusing wording seemed to stump all three contestants. None managed to conjure the correct response: “What is Sardinia?” McKinney, playing it safe with a $0 wager, secured the victory with $22,000, dethroning Bond and sending O’Donnell home with a single dollar.
While the Final Jeopardy! clue proved a universal stumbling block, the overall game highlighted McKinney’s strategic prowess and command of the buzzer.
Jeopardy! airs weekdays on syndicated television. Check your local listings.
