Master Minds Recap: October 19, 2023

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds (Season 4) for Thursday, October 19, 2023 with guest host Muffy Marracco.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & Cowboy, Ninja, Bear”
Today’s Master Minds: Mark “The Beast” Labbett, Arianna Haut, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Dane, Korey, and returning champ, Tim

The show’s format pits 3 contestants against each other and 3 Master Minds against each other. There are 3 rounds and the contestant with the highest score wins $1,000 and faces off in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge against the winning Master Mind. If the contestant beats the Master Mind, the prize money goes up to $10,000.

Round 1: Here are the 7 categories and questions. 100 points for each correct answer.

(1) TV: At one point, James Gandolfini was in talks to star on what sitcom once the lead actor left?
(a) Superstore (b) The Office (c) Brooklyn Nine-Nine
(2) PETS: What toy dog, distinguished from other breeds by its beautiful ears, takes its name from the French word for butterfly?
(a) bichon frise (b) papillon (c) poodle
(3) WHICH CAME FIRST: Game, Show or Network?
(a) “A Game of Thrones” published (b) “The Cleveland Show” debuts (c) 4G Network
(4) DANCE: George Chakiris, who played Bernardo in the original “West Side Story”, was an uncredited dancer in what 1954 film musical?
(a) Singing’ in the Rain (b) A Star is Born (c) Brigadoon
(5) TECHNOLOGY: What country had its entire internet shut down in order to save it from being infected by malicious worm software in 1988?
(a) Canada (b) Norway (c) Japan
(6) SPACE: Our solar system sits closest to an arm of the Milky Way galaxy named for which constellation?
(a) Orion (b) Perseus (c) Sagittarius
(7) ORGANIZATIONS: February 12, 1909 was chosen as the launch date for the NAACP because it was the centennial anniversary of whose birth?
(a) Frederick Douglass (b) Harriet Tubman (c) Abraham Lincoln

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Dane 200 Korey 400 Tim 200 / Beastie 400 Arianna 400 Jonathan 400

Round 2: There are 5 subjects and questions. No multiple choice. Correct answers are worth 200 points for the first 4. The last question is worth 400 points. At the end of the round, the person with the lowest score on each team is eliminated.

(1) MUSIC: Ending longtime speculation, Carly Simon confirmed the second verse of “You’re So Vain” is about what ex-boyfriend and actor?
(2) THE CONSTITUTION: In 1939, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia finally ratified the first 10 U.S. Constitutional Amendments, called what?
(3) HISTORICAL FIGURES: After dismissing the Beatles in the 1960s, what Cuban leader later unveiled a statue of John Lennon in Havana?
(4) ANIMALS: Perhaps descending from prehistoric glyptodons, what small mammal found in Texas can hold its breath underwater for up to six minutes?
(5) LITERATURE: What author’s wildly successful spy book series was inspired by his own experience as a Navy intelligence agent in WWII?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Dane 600 Korey 1600 Tim 800 / Beastie 1600 Arianna 1400 Jonathan 1200

Dane and Jonathan are eliminated.

Korey and Tim advance to the next round, as do Beastie and Arianna.

Round 3: Each team faces off in a rapid-fire 1-minute trivia battle. The first question is worth 500 points and each additional question goes up an additional 100 points. The winners go on to the last round.

Korey and Tim go first:

(500) A traditional screwdriver cocktail mixes vodka with what kind of juice?
(600) For “Mrs. Doubtfire”, what actor improvised so much that there were PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 edits of the film?
(700) Also known as joss sticks, what did ancient Chinese box burn that allowed users to tell time with smell?
(800) What Henry David Thoreau book is subtitled “or, Life in the Woods”?
(900) What popular social news and discussion website has a smiling alien in an orange-red circle as its logo?
(1000) The cravat originated as 17th century military neckware in what Eastern European country?
(1100) The city of Albuquerque unveiled life-size statues of Jesse Pinkman and what other “Breaking Bad” character?
(1200) In 1969, Ohio’s Cuyahoga River catching fire led to the passage of what 1972 act?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Korey 3300 Tim 5900

Tim wins $1,000 and advances to the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. But first, Beastie and Arianna will battle it out for a minute to see who joins Tim.

(500) Born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, what mummified Communist revolutionary is a popular Moscow tourist attraction?
(600) Every year, the fronds of what tree are burned to create ashes for Ash Wednesday?
(700) What French term describes a film genre with cynical characters, shady motivations and frequent flashbacks?
(800) The phrase “Corinthian leather” was created to market upholstery for what American car manufacturer?
(900) An antihero who fakes appendicitis to avoid his duties, who is the protagonist of the novel “Catch- 22”?
(1000) Using a liquid such as wine, what technique makes a sauce from food particles stuck on the bottom of a pan?
(1100) After earning his theater degree, what future “Hamilton” Tony-winner taught 7th grade English as a substitute teacher?
(1200) What city across the George Washington Bridge from New York was America’s first film town before Hollywood?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Arianna finished with 4800 to Beastie’s 2800 so Arianna will join Tim in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Tim beats Arianna, he will win another $10,000 and return on the show as a Master Mind.

Ultimate Trivia Challenge: The questions are presented to the players at the same time and they write their answers down.

(1) What animal is the largest rodent in both North America and Eurasia?
(2) Around 700 feet below sea level, what is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth?
(3) No. 5 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, what mineral is a major constituent of phosphate rock and of bones and teeth?
(4) In the Sean Connery and Michael Caine adventure film “The Man Who Would be King”, Christopher Plummer played what author?

ANSWERS: (unless otherwise indicated, both were correct)
show

Arianna got one right to two for Tim. Tim has won $20,000 now and he is the newest Master Mind.

FYI: If you see someone on Master Minds that you think was on Jeopardy!, you can look up their player page on J-Archive. JBoard keeps track of Jeopardy! contestants’ appearances on their Master Minds thread. Also, IMDB has a list of many contestants that includes their last name.

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