At the start of the show, one of the contestants said he was an actor, so having nothing better to do I looked him up on IMDb:
That’s it. One role from 1993 in a pilot that didn’t get picked up.
So here comes the Final Jepoardy answer from the category “TV Classics”:
“This drama released in 1959 was publicly condemned by both Frank Sinatra and J. Edgar Hoover.”
First woman guessed “Perry Mason.” Wrong. Returning Champ guessed “Mod Squad.” Also wrong. Ethan, who had already bet all of it, said “The Untouchables.” He was right and became the champ with ~ a couple hundred dollars more than the returning champ.
Lucky him! I saw that. He also appeared to be laughing a bit when his answer was revealed.
I felt bad for the outgoing champion, who seemed like a nice guy. He’ll get $2,000 for finishing in second place today, which, when added to his one-day win amount, makes a grand total of:
Eh, I figured it out and I’ve never acted in a version of The Untouchables or seen the original show (the movie with De Niro and Costner is awesome though).
It was the only show from the 50s/60s I could think of that featured the FBI.
It was an interesting show for the contestants. The woman was Bozo the Clown’s daughter, and the returning Champ was also someone who had acted before; in his case, he was more successful, having been in a movie that actually made it in front of people.
When my cousin won the Tourney of Champions (he actually was the first Tournament winner, in 1986) The Final Jeapardy question had to do with a subtlity of Canadian geography. Being that half my family (so his as well) lived in the area being asked about he was the only one to answer it correctly and came back to win! He laughed as he revealed his answer.
The version of Jeopardy that most of us see on TV is the English-language North American version. It’s shown in the U.S. and Canada except for Quebec. Both Americans and Canadians are eligible to appear on it. There are other versions for other places:
Like Justin_Bailey, I probably would have gotten the right answer for the wrong reason. (I didn’t see the episode.) It’s still a neat coincidence though.
[Grandpa Simpson]When I was on Jeopardy! many years ago, one of the clues was about a breed of dog named for an island in the Mediterranean. I quickly went through possibilities in my head. Sicilian dog… Corsican dog… Maltese dog… that’s it! I rang in, Alex said my name, and I realized that I had been thinking of “The Maltese Falcon.” I cringed and stammered out, “What is… Maltese?” Alex said correct. I said “That’s a dog?” People laughed. It wasn’t an exciting all-or-nothing Final Jeopardy moment, just an example of how flawed mental processes can lead to the correct response. The neat coincidence is that a couple years later I was an editor of the world’s most widely read dog magazine.[\Grandpa Simpson]
When I was on, I got the first Daily Double, which involved identifying the singer of the “I’m Too Sexy Song.” Ordinarily I wouldn’t have had a clue, but they used that for a dance number for a play my daughter was in, and we had gone out to find the CD single with the dance mix. I was laughing also when I answered, and given my advanced age, the audience thought I knew everything.
Incidentally, on Monday 1/28, Alex Trebek talked to Ethan about his involvement with “The Untouchables”.
And then, in Final Jeopardy, two of the three contestants (including Ethan) put Alex Trebek as their answer to Final Jeopardy. I’m not sure that they thought he was the right answer, but he was at least theoretically possible.
The clue was something like: Not an actor, this person was the highest ranking foreign-born entertainer on Forbes’ list in 2007
The correct answer was of course:
Simon Cowell (from American Idol)
who became a “Duh!” answer as soon as his name was revealed.
As to the incredulity about the contestant “being an actor,” it’s possible he’s a stage actor and therefore wouldn’t have many credits on IMDB. Or it’s also possible he hasn’t done much of anything in fifteen years and “actor” sounded better than “barista.”
I got the impression that, since neither of the eventual losers had enough money in Final Jeopardy to beat the person with $20k, they may have been having a little fun with Alex.
The word paid should probably be substituted for ranking in this clue. It still wouldn’t be right, but Alex joked about wishing he were that highly paid.
Gordon,
Yes, exactly. I assumed they didn’t know the right answer*, but picked Trebek as the most obvious foreign-born non-actor entertainer.
*Of course, since people are weird, they may have had more clue than I give them credit for.
True dat. As I said, it was many years ago and the clue was something about a dog named after a Mediterranean island. I don’t remember the exact wording, but I do remember that “Maltese” was the correct response.
