The Final Jeopardy question (1/3/2012) in the category “Astronomy” was:

In July 2011 it completed its first orbit around the sun since its discovery in 1846.

3-day champion Dave Leach returned today. Will he win a 4th game? Will Alex bring up Jason Keller again? Will one of these two new contestants, Nicholas Campiz from Gainesville, FL and Sally Sommers Smith from Kennebunk, ME., send Dave packing?

Surprise! Alex didn’t bring up Jason Keller but he did point out that Dave only got one out of three Final Jeopardys correct.

Nicholas was kicking butt in the Jeopardy round and found the Daily Double in “The Number After 1: Literary Edition” He had $6,800, a $4,600 lead over Sally who had a $1,000 lead over Dave. Nicholas chose to bet $2,400 but he couldn’t come up with anything so he was WRONG.

“Helm’s Deep” and the “Taming of Smeagol” are chapters in this “two”-titled book show

WHAT ARE THE TWO TOWERS?

Dave had $1,000 by the end of the round but he managed to get the last clue wrong: “Dominick Dunne wrote about a pair of women in a Navy ensign’s life in the two Mrs. these.” Dave said “Miniver” and Alex told him there was only one Mrs. Miniver (Yeah, Greer Garson). Maybe it would have helped if the clue said Ann-Margret played one of them in the movie.

In any event, it was a $1,000 clue so Dave ended the round with zero! Sally had $2,200 and Nicholas was in the lead with $4,400 going into Double Jeopardy.

Nicholas swept impressively through “College Nickname’s the Same,” taking a commanding lead with $12,000 even before any Daily Doubles were found. He found the first Daily Double of the round in “Medicine Men” when he got to $13,600. He didn’t want to risk a lot because Dave had $7,200 by now, so he bet $1,400. He took a stab at it with Rosher but that was WRONG.

In 1895, he began replacing hypnosis as a form of therapy with free association. show

WHO IS SIGMUND FREUD?

Dave got the second Daily Double in “The Attorney General Information.” He thought that was hilarious for some reason. He had $6,800. He immediately made an inexplicable $700 wager, but announced the number with such conviction that we are sure there was a sound explanation, at least to him. “Hiss” was all he could think of and that was WRONG.

“He is the only Attorney General ever convicted of a felony.” show

WHO IS JOHN MITCHELL?

Nicholas finished this round first with $12,200, Dave was next with $6,100 and Elizabeth was last, going into Final Jeopardy with $5,000.

None of the contestants got a Daily Double right in this game but ALL of them got this current events Final Jeopardy right. Were we surprised? No. Were you?

WHAT IS NEPTUNE?

“Dog years are nothing next to Neptune years. The distant planet has finally completed the first entire orbit of the sun since its discovery in 1846. The planet is actually about as old as the solar system, which is 4.6 billion Earth-years old. But it makes sense to celebrate the ‘anniversary’ of its discovery, since it was a veritable feat of astronomical deduction. …” (Previously on New Scientist.com)

Sally added $4,500 to her score to finish with $9,000. She looked mighty happy about it.

Dave bet it all, winding up with $12,200.

Nicholas was also right but bet NOTHING! Thus he tied with Dave and they are co-champions. Dave also found that hilarious and we didn’t even have to wonder why this time. What a stroke of luck, eh? Nicholas will return tomorrow with a $12,200 win. That brings Dave up to a 4-day total of $60,884. And it was all good for Sally, too. She ended up with the second place prize of $2,000.

Are we taking bets on who will kick butt tomorrow?