The Final Jeopardy question (10/4/2012) in the category “Authors” was:

In 1890, he captained the stern-wheeler Roi des Belges on a voyage down the Congo River.

New champ Erik Dresner won $22,401 in yesterday’s game, the only player to solve Final Jeopardy! Today he is up against these two players: Margaret Minett Longdon, from Winnebago, IL and Brendan O’Connor, from San Francisco, CA.

Alex enlightened us on how Erik happened to know that Final Jeopardy! answer. That’s what they were all talking about as the credits rolled, he said. Erik had the good fortune to pick up a magazine while en route to California from his native NY that had an article all about that particular modern opera. That rocks!

Erik found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Stock Market” right after the commercial break. He was in the lead with $2,400, $1,800 more than Brendan, his closest opponent. He made in a true Daily Double, took a guess with Amstel, and that was WRONG.

The world’s fourth-largest public company according to Forbes, it is traded in Amsterdam.
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WHAT IS ROYAL DUTCH SHELL?

Brendan finished in the lead with $5,600. Erik was second with $1,600 and Margaret was last with no money at all.

Margaret found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “‘A’ There”,  where you had to give the name of a city that begins with the letter A. Still in third place, she now had $2,000, $3,200 behind Brendan in the lead. She bet it all, but could not come up with a guess so she was WRONG.

From the Arabic for “The Islands”, this African city is capital of a country with a similar name.
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WHAT IS ALGIERS?

Brendan found the last Daily Double in “Like a Vestal Virgin.” He was now in the lead with $7,600, $4,000 more than Erik in second place. He bet $1,600 and wouldn’t you know it, he was RIGHT with the only correct Daily Double and the only conservative bet.

The Vestal Virgins received the Wills of dignitaries, like this man who died in 30 B.C. & requested to be buried in Egypt.
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WHO IS MARC ANTONY?

Brendan finished in the lead with $8,800. Margaret was next with $5,600 and Erik was in third place with $2,000.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS JOSEPH CONRAD?

“On the Congo River, Conrad served in and briefly captained the steamship Roi des Belges, employment that provided the source for Marlow’s journey in ‘Heart of Darkness’. Scholarship has long established the degree to which the novella is haunted by its biographical origins and historical facts. Part of the shock for the reader lies in discovering, for instance, that the characters Fresleven and Kurtz are partly based on actual people…” (Joseph Conrad in Context)

Erik doubled his score to finish with $4,000.

Margaret added $3,200 to her score, finishing with $8,800.

Brendan bet $2,401 and became the new champ with a total of $11,201.

In both rounds today, three clues were left uncovered and we just have to ask, do you think Alex Trebek elaborating on the clues has anything to do it? In fact, several times this week, contestants cut Alex off right in mid-sentence trying to pick their next clue!