I’ll give this week’s contestants a little slack. Based on posts I’ve seen elsewhere, the episodes this week had a lot of re-shoots and delays. They said Monday’s show took 2 hours to film. So by they time they got to Thursday and Friday they were probably exhausted. Perhaps that accounts for the triple-stumpers.
My favorite was the 800 degrees calzone. 
How can someone from the US know the Snowbirds and not the Thunderbirds?
Or not know that non-fixed wing aircraft are helicopters?
They could have been a hot air balloon demo team. 
I think I have seen the Thunderbirds (I definitely have seen the Blue Angels) I know the answer but couldn’t recall it in time. Perhaps the alternate clue was better for Snowbirds (do not winter in Florida)
Brian
Me, too. I’ve been to dozens of airshows and have been inside the Thunderbirds’ hangar in Las Vegas! I’ve helped out with pyro for a few airshows and held the poles for a ribbon cut by aerobatic champ Patty Wagstaff, who was a friend many years ago. I was also once a passenger in a three-plane aerobatic demo flight. (Unfortunately, the pictures I took are on film, and the negs are in a box in the basement that I won’t be able to access for a while, so I can’t provide proof. But it was really cool!)
What is your guess for the team in the unrevealed clue? The Golden Knights? Patrouille de France? Italy’s Frecce Tricolori?
The clue gave away the correct response by referring to retirees in Florida.
Or blimps. Either one would be exciting to watch! 
Yeah, the clue really did give it away. Calling the Thunderbirds “loud” wasn’t quite as good.
But come on. I’ve known about the Thunderbirds since I was five or six. And they did say the team represents the US Air Force, didn’t they?
I saw the Blue Angels perform when I was living in Milwaukee back in the '80s. They did most of their stunts over Lake Michigan, but they really shook up the crowd gathered on the beach when they flew over it at a considerable nose-up pitch.
I’ve seen all of those teams. I went to the Abbbotsford Airshow in 1986. I figure they got an exceptional lineup because the World’s Fair was being held in Vancouver at the same time. At the end of the day, I saw one plane from each squadron take off and they flew around in formation for a while. https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/65794844539346705/
I remember seeing the Thunderbirds back when they still flew T-38s. About the only team I haven’t seen is the Red Arrows.
For the last question, maybe the clue would ask what country the Frecce Tricolori were from, hoping someone could recognize the language as Italian.
WTF indeed. And didn’t they also give a 9 letter word in response to the category “12 letter words” ??
There were two dumb responses in that category:
- Once with 20,000 people watching from all around, this type of arena in Pompeii is the oldest surviving one in the Roman world.
Jamie: What is the Colosseum?
- In the 19th c., this lung disease caused by a mycobacterium reached near epidemic proportions in industrialized regions.
Steve: What is emphysema?
I agree the contestants missed a lot of easy ones. But as a 59 year old American, I was stumped by Thunderbirds. When I heard it I said, “Oh yeah,” but I wouldn’t have buzzed in with the right answer.
As others have pointed out, Snowbirds was easier because of the clue.
Anything longer than 7 letters and I can’t really process it quickly enough to be useful on Jeopardy!. For the clue about the Roman arena, I think “colosseum” was the first thing that jumped in to my head, too. If I stopped to count the letters in my head, someone else would ring in first.
Maybe after ringing in I would have caught the error and come up with the correct response, but that’s far from certain.
I was skeptical when I heard the middle contestant had 3 totally unrelated professions, and then when she did her weird Miichael Bolton bit in the meet segment, didn’t have much hope for her.
To me one of the worst errors was when the right answer was “The Appalachians” and the first wrong answer was something like “The Smoke Ridge Mountains,” and the next contestant tried “The Blue Smoke Mountains.” WTF?
I immediately thought of Holy Grail and the “small rocks?” bit when they’re working out how to identify the witch.
The Colosseum was (is) in Rome, not Pompeii. The more general term “ampitheater” makes better sense anyway.
Nitpick: amphitheater
Even better.
To be fair, there are the “Blue Ridge Mountains” and also the “Great Smoky Mountains”. These are both in the Tennessee/North Carolina area so they can be ruled out as an answer for this particular clue. When I first heard the question, I knew it was in the Appalachians, but was trying to think of something more specific like the “Blue Smokey Mountains” lol
Her leopard-skin jacket and heavy make-up also made her look really out of place. I was willing to hold back my prejudices and give her the benefit of the doubt, since she got through the audition and testing process. But whether from bad luck or not, she ended up reinforcing some unfortunate stereotypes.
what stereotypes? Was she from Jersey?
My thoughts exactly. I had to keep reminding myself that idiots don’t get on the show. Now, I’m not so sure.
“Black sheep, black sheep”? That was bullshit, bullshit.