Master Minds Recap: December 11, 2020

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds for Friday, December 11, 2020 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & Bananas”
Today’s Master Minds: Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Rebecca, Rob, Jason

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) GEOMETRY: The circumference of a circle can be found by multiplying what by Pi?
(a) hypotenuse (b) diameter (b) radius
(2) SHAKESPEARE: In “Macbeth”, the witches’ familiars were Paddock the toad & Graymalkin the what?
(a) rat (b) bat (c) cat
(3) FRUIT: Dating back nearly 10,000 years, the first bananas were cultivated on which continent?
(a) Asia (b) Antarctica (c) Africa
(4) TRANSPORTATION: In the 1930s, the New York Times reported that “traffic was tied up” at the sight of an airship docking where?
(a) Brooklyn Bridge (b) Empire State Building (c) Central Park
(5) ASTRONOMY: Which of these distances of measurement is longest?
(a) light year (b) parsec (c) astronomical unit
(6) LAW: 1975’s Taylor v. Louisiana stated that women could not be excluded from serving in what capacity?
(a) in the military (b) on a jury (c) as a religious officiant
(7) JOBS: By definition a chandler is a professional what?
(a) butcher (b) baker (c) candle maker

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Rebecca 400 Rob 300 Jason 500 / Ken 500 Muffy 500 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) SYMBOLS: Which constituent country of the United Kingdom features a dragon on its national flag?
(2) ANIMALS: Found in Japanese ponds, what large, decorative fish of the carp family can live more than a century?
(3) COLLEGES: Until 2019, which Ivy League university in New Jersey had a professor of hip-hop?
(4) SHOPPING: Online clothing retailer Zappos takes its name from “zapatos”, the Spanish word for what fashion item?
(5) UNITED STATES: At a respectable 4,039 feet, Mount Sunflower is the highest point in what state?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Rebecca 400 Rob -100 Jason 900 / Ken 700 Muffy 1100 Jonathan 900

Rob and Ken 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.

Rebecca and Jason go first:

(500) According to the saying, who needs something old, new, borrowed and blue?
(600) Called “the Big Room”, the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America is in what cavern and national park?
(700) What video calling service did Apple first introduce on its iPhone 4?
(800) What is the name of the barber in Beaumarchais’ “Barber of Seville”?
(900) In a home bathroom, clawfoot, alcove and walk-in are all types of what?
(1000) Centered around a retired sociology professor, what 1997 memoir spent four years on the New York Times Best Seller list?
(1100) On their wedding days, Victoria Beckham and Alicia Keys wore gowns designed by what Asian-American?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Rebecca 2000 Jason 3000

Jason 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 Jason.

(500) In a corporation, the abbreviation “CFO” is short for what executive title?
(600) Meaning “between two rivers”, what ancient region occupied territory in what is now Iraq, Turkey and Syria?
(700) What “sweet-sounding” packets of data do websites send to internet browsers to track a site visitor’s activity
(800) As reflected by its name, Tanzania was created through the merging of Zanzibar and what other state?
(900) In architecture. Tudor, stilted and ogee are types of what?
(1000) What author of the novel “Delta of Venus” also documented her relationship with Henry & June Miller?
(1100) Giuseppe Garibaldi is credited with unifying the warring regions of what country into a single kingdom?
didn’t count:
(1200) Breaking from Dadaism, Andre Breton penned a “Manifesto” on what irrational and dreamlike art movement and surrealism?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Jonathan finished with 4100 to Muffy’s 1600 so Jonathan will join Jason in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Jason beats Jonathan, 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) Who is the only person to serve as U.S. President & Vice-President without being elected to either position?
(2) In 1899 the 1st gas/electric hybrid car was built by the founder of what Stuttgart-based automaker?
(3) Whom did William Shakespeare marry?
(4) In 1931, who was involved in a shoot-out with a business competitor years before creating his fast food brand?
(5) In 1991, Abuja replaced what city as its nation’s capital?

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

Jason got 2 right to Jonathan’s 3. Jason is going home with $1,000 and there will be 3 new players on Monday.

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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