Master Minds Recap: December 16, 2020

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds for Wednesday, December 16, 2020 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & A Zombie Apocalypse”
Today’s Master Minds: Ken Jennings, Muffy Marracco, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Sarah, Isaiah, Evan

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) DOGS: At the time of a puppy’s birth which of its senses is best developed? Sense of
(a) sight (b) hearing (c) smell
(2) BRANDS: With 100% of the company’s profits going to charity, what was the first product in the “Newman’s Own” line?
(a) popcorn (b) salsa (c) salad dressing
(3) SPORTS: Which of these will result in the loss of a sumo match?
kneeling on the ground (b) arms pinned to side (c) losing your belt
(4) FAMOUS FOLK: Who were Acton, Ellis & Currer Bell?
(a) the first Ed Sullivan act (b) the Bronte sisters (c) brothers on an NBA team
(5) PLACES: With more than 39 million printed works in its collection, what U.S. city is home to the library with the most items?
(a) Boston (b) Cambridge
(c) Washington, D.C.
(6) CURRENCY: In 1862, whose image appeared on the first U.S. one-dollar bill?
(a) Salmon P. Chase (b) George Washington (c) Abraham Lincoln
(7) COLLEGES: The namesake of what Tulsa University said he was ordered by God to found it in 1963?
(a) George Fox (b) Brigham Young (c) Oral Roberts

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Sarah 500 Isaiah 500 Evan 500 / Ken 600 Muffy 700 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) LETTERS: What is both a common size of household battery and a famous auto club that can jumpstart your car?
(2) MUSIC: Featuring finger holes carved in hollow ivory, the world’s oldest recognizable musical instrument is a type of what?
(3) ENTREPRENEURS: What cookie company did Debra Sivyer found under her married name?
(4) WOMEN’S SPORTS: What country won the first three Olympic gold medals in softball?
(5) QUOTATIONS: What surrealist painter once said “I don’t do drugs. I am drugs”?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Sarah 900 Isaiah 500 Evan 1300 / Ken 600 Muffy 1300 Jonathan 1100

Isaiah 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.

Sarah and Evan go first:

(500) In the appetizer world, 7-Layer Dip has a bottom layer that’s typically refried what?
(600) On its web page, what organization of top test takers refers to itself as “the High IQ Society”?
(700) In German, what festive holiday item is known as a “Tannenbaum”
(800) What name for a fictional hybrid bird is the title of the final book in the “Hunger Games” series?
(900) “Service above self” is a motto of what community organization whose emblem is a gear wheel?
(1000) in terms of volume, the world’s busiest shipping port is in what city on the East China Sea?
(1100) “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” is attributed to what Indian leader who professed civil disobedience?
(1200) Held by Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking, the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics is found at what school?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Sarah 4100 Evan 4000

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

(500) Anthracite is a carbon-dense variety of what organic sedimentary rock?
(600) Designed to foster global financial cooperation, what organization has the initials “IMF”?
(700) What is the last U.S. state alphabetically?
(800) Killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, who was the last Plantagenet king of England?
(900) What hot chili sauce named for a city in Thailand features a rooster on its bottle?
(1000) Brothers Charles and Adam share their initials with Cain and Abel in what Steinbeck novel?
(1100) In a 1972 poll, what CBS News anchor was named as the Most Trusted Man in America?
(1200) What ancient Greek goddess was considered the personification of the Earth?
(1300) Originally a Hawaiian word. What term now refers to a website that allows anyone to make changes to it?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Muffy cleaned up and finished with 7200 to Jonathan’s 3300 so Muffy will join Sarah in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Sarah beats Muffy, she 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) Katherine & Petruchio were the main characters in which Shakespeare play?
(2) Nicknamed “The Woodshed”, what briefing space was added to The West Wing following the Bay of Pigs invasion?
(3) Who was the first singer with a No. 1 hit on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in four different decades?
(4) In 2016, what Sioux tribe managed to temporarily halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline?
(5) The third largest in the world, what Pacific island has land claimed by Indonesia, Malaysia & Brunei?

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

Wow! By the 5th clue, Sarah and Muffy were still tied at 1 to 1. It would have been really crazy if they both got the 5th clue wrong, but Muffy got it right. Sarah 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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