Master Minds Recap: December 10, 2020

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds for Thursday, December 10, 2020 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & Tasty Tidbits”
Today’s Master Minds: Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Matthew, Dan, Sarah

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) FUN: What game is officially played with an 8-holed plastic ball?
(a) korfball (b) wiffleball (c) foosball
(2) Egypt: The Great Pyramid at Giza, the largest of the three, was built for which pharaoh?
(a) Khufu (b) Khafre (c) Menkaure
(3) STATE CAPITALS: Which U.S. state capital comes first alphabetically? The capital of:
(a) Georgia (b) Texas (c) New York
(4) IN THE KITCHEN: While it can contain many ingredients, by definition, what is the primary food group featured on a charcuterie platter?
(a) dairy (b) meat (c) vegetable
(5) CELEBRITY: Frank Sinatra was known to have a tempestuous marriage to which of these actresses?
(a) Ava Gardner (b) Marilyn Monroe (c) Elizabeth Taylor
(6) SUCCESSION: Which politician directly preceded Yuri Andropov as leader of the Soviet Union?
(a) Nikita Khrushchev (b) Konstantin Chernenko (c) Leonid Brezhnev
(7) TENNIS: Which is the only grand slam tennis tournament that is played on a grass court?
(a) U.S. Open (b) French Open (c) Wimbledon

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Matthew 600 Dan 400 Sarah 400 / Ken 700 Muffy 700 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) AVIATION: Charles Lindbergh completed the first-ever solo transatlantic flight after he flew from New York to what city?
(2) BIG BUSINESS: Owned by Florida’s Seminole tribe, what worldwide restaurant chain is known for its music memorabilia?
(3) NAMES: Icelandic law requires that all boys are given surnames ending in what three letters?
(4) MEDICINE: Lasix & Microzide are examples of what class of drugs prescribed to remove excess fluid from the body?
(5) THE HEAVENS: Which constellation contains the Big Dipper?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Matthew 1000 Dan 1200 Sarah 400 / Ken 1300 Muffy 1100 Jonathan 800

Sarah and Jonathan 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.

Matthew and Dan go first:

(500) Earth’s geographic North Pole is located in what body of water?
(600) What was the final battle of the American Revolution before the British surrender?
(700) The formation or presence of a blood clot in the veins or arteries is known by what term?
(800) The name of Oregon’s state tree honors what Scottish botanist?
(900) Biotin is commonly referred to as which numbered B vitamin
(1000) During Chinese New Year, it is traditional to give gifts of money in what color envelopes?
(1100) Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Whatsit are characters in classic children’s book

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Matthew and Dan finished in a 2500 point tie.
Tie-breaker: In Texas Hold’em poker, the first three community cards dealt are called the what?
ANSWER show

Matthew rang in first with an incorrect response so Dan won $1,000 and advances to the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. But first, Ken and Muffy will battle it out for a minute to see who joins Dan.

(500) What two word Latin phrase describes the stiffening of the joints and muscles after someone dies?
(600) Which Hollywood studio produced the first feature length “talkie” film in 1927?
(700) In his letters, Vincent Van Gogh described “The Olive Trees” as a daytime partner to what other painting?
(800) Upon his regime’s defeat in the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-Shek was exiled to which Island in 1949?
(900) A pythia was a priestess who served in what capacity for the god Apollo?
(1000) John Kennedy Toole was posthumously awarded the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for what novel published 11 years after his death?
(1100) Used to specify the amount of acidity or alkalinity and a solution, what does “PH” stand for?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Ken and Muffy finished in a 4000 point tie.
Tie-breaker: In an effort to complete with the iPad, Microsoft released what line of hybrid tablets in 2012?
ANSWER: show

Muffy got in there first but her response was incorrect so Ken will join Dan in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Dan 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) What car brand has four E’s in its name and a three-pointed star in its emblem?
(2) In literature, what was the name of the princess in the Grimm Brothers’ version of “Sleeping Beauty”?
(3) The remains of the man who discovered Pluto were aboard what spacecraft as it flew by the dwarf planet in 2015?
(4) Named for a Boer statesman, what is the administrative capital of South Africa?
(5) Despite being attacked before the games, Nancy Kerrigan won which medal in figure skating at the 1994 Olympics?

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

Dan got 2 right to Ken’s 3. Dan 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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