The Final Jeopardy question (10/16/2012) in the category “Americana” was:

The creator of this comic strip did not like its 1950 change in title, believing it suggested insignificance.

6-day champ Stephanie Jass has been on a serious roll, to the tune of $123,970. Today’s new players are: Shaanti Kapila, from Washington, DC and Carlo Abulencia, from Chatsworth, CA. Do they even have a chance?

Carlo found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Brand Names” before the first commercial break. He was in a tie for the lead with Shaanti. They both had $800, $600 more than Stephanie. He bet $1,000 and took a guess with Coca Cola and that was WRONG.

An animated character called Willy the Hillbilly was an early spokesperson for this soda.
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WHAT IS MOUNTAIN DEW?

Stephanie did her thing and finished in the lead with $6,200. Shaanti was second with $3,400 and Carlo was right behind her with $3,200.

Stephanie found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Bestsellers.” She had the lead with $9,800, $5,600 more than Shaanti in second place. She bet $1,200 and she was RIGHT.

Naturally, this singer/songwriter titled her memoir “A Natural Woman.”
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WHO IS CAROLE KING?

Shaanti found the last Daily Double in “Treaties.” She was in second place with $7,400, $11,200 less than Stephanie. She bet $3,000, took a guess with Venezuela and that was WRONG.

In the 1921 Thomson-Urrutia Treaty, Colombia got $25 million for recognizing this country’s independence.
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WHAT IS PANAMA?

Stephanie finished in the lead with an unbeatable $20,600. Shaanti was next with $8,000 and Carlo was in third place with $5,200.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right (for the first time in quite a while).

WHAT IS PEANUTS?

“Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz got quite a few rejection letters from national syndicates when he first sent out samples of the comic strip he called “Li’l Folks.” Jim Freeman, editor of New York’s United Feature Syndicate liked the strip but thought the name was too similar to another comic strip’s name. The syndicate decided to change the name to “Peanuts,” which greatly upset Schulz for the reason given in the Final Jeopardy! clue – he thought it made the characters sound unimportant. (Charles Schulz by Mae Woods)

Carlo bet $3,000. He finished with $8,200.

Shaanti bet $2,500, finishing with $10,500.

Stephanie bet $3,000. Today’s total: $23,600. 7-day total is $147,570.

Alex said “I believe Stephanie has tied the record for 7 wins by a woman. We’ll find out if she can beat that tomorrow.” We don’t know who he means, do you?

Larissa Kelly, the highest female winner in terms of money, was a 6-time winner. Larissa racked up $222,257 in Season 22, and is the 5th all-time highest winner in the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame. That’s one place ahead of Jason Keller, a 9-time winner, currently No. 1 on the our Top 12 Tournament of Champions list.