Master Minds Recap: January 5, 2021

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds for Tuesday, January 5, 2021 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & Chocolate Imposters”
Today’s Master Minds: Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Milos, Brian, Lety

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) FOOD: Because it contains no cocoa solids, what type of chocolate technically isn’t chocolate?
(a) dark chocolate (b) milk chocolate (c) white chocolate
(2) GOVERNMENT: Until 2011, the first three digits of a person’s social security number corresponded to what?
(a) birth date (b) U.S. state (c) tax rate
(3) RIVERS: The Yellowstone River gets its name from which of these geologic features found along its banks?
(a) sulfur caves (b) citrine quartz pebbles (c) sandstone cliffs
(4) BEAUTY: Who became a brand ambassador for Lancome Cosmetics more than 35 years after she first became the face of the company?
(a) Isabella Rossellini (b) Naomi Campbell (c) Julia Roberts
(5) SPORTS: Which golfer holds the record for being the youngest winner of an LPGA tour event?
(a) Lexi Thompson (b) Lydia Ko (c) Michelle Wie
(6) SEA CREATURES: Cut off from sunlight, bacteria living on hydrothermal vents in the ocean floor create energy using what process?
(a) photosynthesis (b) chemosynthesis (c) electrosynthesis
(7) WHICH CAME FIRST?
(a) Star-Spangled Banner (b) steam locomotive (c) U.S. Census

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Milos 400 Brian 400 Lety 300 / Ken 600 Muffy 600 Jonathan 500

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) ARCHITECTURE: According to local folklore, Chinese skyscrapers have large holes in them to allow what flying monsters to pass through?
(2) ANATOMY: In humans, the hamstring tendons are located in the back of what specific part of the body?
(3) SPACE: What star in the night sky is commonly referred to as the “dog star”?
(4) MUSIC: Louis Armstrong is credited with popularizing what jazz singing form that uses improvised syllables in place of words?
(5) POLITICAL PARTIES: The Whig party was formed out of dissatisfaction with what U.S. President?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Milos 800 Brian 1000 Lety 500 / Ken 800 Muffy 800 Jonathan 900

Master Minds Tie-Breaker: Capable of carrying 2,160 people at once, what 264-foot-tall attraction was built for Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair?

ANSWER: show

Ken buzzed in first with the correct response.

Lety 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.

Milos and Brian go first:

(500) Walton’s Five and Dime was a predecessor to what retail mega-chain?
(600) Released by Milton Bradley in 1916, what classic board game is based on a rabbit created by author Howard R. Garis?
(700) By definition, a compound classified as “organic” always contains atoms of what element?
(800) Often made during holidays, lefse is a soft flatbread dish that has its origins in what Scandinavian country?
(900) According to the U.S. Constitution, you must have reached a minimum age of 30 before serving in what elected office?
(1000) Liquid oils are typically converted into shortening through what chemical process?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Milos 800 Brian 3900

Brian 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 Brian.

(500) Since 1918, Sailor Jack and Bingo have been the company mascots for what snack food?
(600) If you drive over them at 45 mph, a set of rumble strips on Route 66 plays what song that mentions amber waves of grain?
(700) In what opening chess move does a player strategically sacrifice a pawn?
(800) 1997 marked the initial release of what revolutionary pitch-correcting software by Antares audio?
(900) In 1894, the first filmed sporting event was a movie shot by Edison of two athletes engaged in what kind of competition?
(1000) Including Spanish moss, what is the scientific name for the family of plants that get their water from the atmosphere?
(1100) Designated in 1945, what line of latitude serves as the line of demarcation between North and South Korea?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Ken finished with 4300 to Jonathan’s 3000 so Ken will join Brian in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Brian 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) Forced to abdicate his throne in 1917, who was the last tsar to rule Russia?
(2) A training exercise with Roman soldiers jumping along a 100-foot-long grid of squares may have inspired what kids’ game?
(3) What bite-size citrus fruit has an edible, sweet, rind and come in varieties such as Meiwa and Nagami?
(4) The first use of the word “wicked” to mean something cool appeared in “This Side of Paradise” by whom?

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

By the fourth question, Ken had a perfect score and Brian only had 2 right, so that was the ballgame. Brian 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.)

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