Master Minds Recap: February 15, 2021

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds for Monday, February 15, 2021 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & Acrobatics”
Today’s Master Minds: Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Dillon, Nicole, Jeff

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) ROYALTY: After announcing his intention to marry Wallis Simpson, which British king abdicated the throne?
(a) Henry II (b) Edward VIII (c) George VI
(2) FRANCHISES: In the fast food name Taco Bell, the word “Bell” was originally a reference to what?
(a) a type of pepper (b) a dinner bell (c) founder’s last name?
(3) PARENTING: With an intimate guest list and smaller-scale gifts, a baby shower for your 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) baby is called what?
(a) sprinkle (b) drizzle (c) mist
(4) ATHLETES: In 2013, long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without what type of protection?
(a) shark cage (b) jellyfish mask (c) flotilla of support staff
(5) COMMUNICATION: Researchers in Britain have found that people who speak what language use both sides of their brain instead of just the left side?
(a) Arabic (b) Mandarin (c) English
(6) ARCHITECTURE: India’s Taj Mahal is a mausoleum whose name means what in English?
(a) crown palace (b) crown tomb (c) crown jewel
(7) ENTERTAINMENT: Before starring in films like “From Here to Eternity”, what actor had a career as a circus acrobat?
(a) Clark Gable (b) Kirk Douglas (c) Burt Lancaster

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Dillon 300 Nicole 400 Jeff 400 / Ken 500 Muffy 500 Jonathan 600

Round 2: There are 5 subjects and questions. No multiple choice. Only the first player on each team to buzz in gets to answer. Correct answers are worth 200 points for the first 4. The last question is worth 400 points. Wrong answers are penalized by the value of the question. At the end of the round, the person with the lowest score on each team is eliminated.

(1) SPORTS: What traditional birthday celebration shares its name with the NCAA Basketball Regional Semifinals?
(2) COMMERCE: Brazil exports the most, and Finland drinks the most, of what commodity?
(3) FUN: What game with a mat was patented as an “apparatus for playing a game wherein the players constitute the game pieces”?
(4) MAGAZINES: Published in The New Yorker in 1939, James Thurber created what character who has heroic daydreams about himself?
(5) MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Named for a Greek god, the syrinx is also commonly called what?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Dillon -100 Nicole 800 Jeff 400 / Ken 1100 Muffy 700 Jonathan 1000

Dillon and Muffy are eliminated.

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.

Nicole and Jeff go first:

(500) In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Tom tricks kids into whitewashing what?
(600) After 62 years, what seafood company’s anonymous mermaid mascot was given the name Catalina?
(700) The people of New Zealand are nicknamed for what native flighless bird?
(800) Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address was delivered as a dedication for what type of site?
(900) What style of open-back woman’s shoe features a strap encircling the heel of the foot to keep it secure?
(1000) The first African American athlete to win Gold at the Winter Olympics did so in which two-person sport?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Nicole 1500 Jeff 2500

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

(500) If you drive about 190 miles west from Fargo, you’ll arrive in what North Dakota capital?
(600) Since 1969, a silhouette of what Hall of Fame player has served as the logo for the NBA?
(700) Heliciculture is the farming of what shelled creatures that are cooked as a delicacy?
(800) Commissioned by Catherine de Medici in 1564, what public gardens of Paris are found adjacent to the Louvre?
(900) What glossy, woven fabric takes its name from an ancient Chinese city?
(1000) Violetta is the “fallen woman” referred to in the title of what classic Verdi opera?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Ken finished with 2700 to Jonathan’s 1500 so Ken will join Jeff in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Jeff beats Ken, he will return on the next show. Any player who makes it through 3 shows and wins $30,000, gets to join the Master Minds expert team.

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

(1) The “BASE” in BASE jumping is an acronym in which the B stands for what?
(2) Which Ernest Hemingway work ends with the title character “dreaming about the lions”?
(3) At the White House Easter Egg Roll, kids use spoons to race “eggs” made of what material?
(4) What capital of South Australia is named for the wife of Britain’s King William IV?

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

By the 4th question, Jeff had zero and Ken had 3 right so that was the end of the road. Jeff is going home with $1,000 and there will be 3 new players tomorrow.

Master Minds airs daily on Game Show Network. Check your local listings for times. (Here in the Central Time Zone it comes on at 3:00 p.m.)

See the pool of trivia experts participating in Master Minds

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