Master Minds Recap: August 23, 2023

Here’s a recap of the clues on Master Minds (Season 4) for Wednesday, August 23, 2023 with host Brooke Burns.

Today’s episode title: “Trivia, Smarts & A Sack of Potatoes”
Today’s Master Minds: Mark “The Beast” Labbett, Monica Thieu, Jonathan Corbblah
Today’s challengers: Ryan, Candace, Brendan (returning champ)

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) AWARDS: Emerald Fennell won an Oscar her first produced screenplay for what Carey Mulligan film?
(a) Promising Young Woman (b) Mean Old Man (c) Avenging Teenage Babysitter
(2) SCIENCE: What did Boeing use in place of people to test the radio signals of their in-flight WiFi system?
(a) crash test dummies (b) sack of potatoes (c) guinea pigs
(3) CALENDAR: Named for a basic measuring unit, what “day” do chemists celebrate on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m.?
(a) Mole Day (b) Kelvin Day (c) Candela Day
(4) FOOTBALL: With a total of 421, what NFL quarterback has the most passing touchdowns without winning a Super Bowl?
(a) Philip Rivers (b) Jim Kelly (c) Warren Moon
(5) ANIMALS: When some grey horses develop small freckle-like dots as they grow older they’re called what kind of “grey?
(a) flowery (b) frosted (c) flea-bitten
(6) ENTERTAINMENT: Who holds a Guinness World Record for most prolific television producer in the Drama category?
(a) Dick Wolf (b) Norman Lear (c) Aaron Spelling
(7) TRANSPORTATION: To cram the maximum amount of passengers into overstuffed subway cars, Japan employs station workers fittingly called what?
(a) squishers (b) pushers (c) jammers

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 1:
Ryan 300 Candace 500 Brendan 400 / Beastie 600 Monica 400 Jonathan 400

Round 2: There are 5 subjects and questions. No multiple choice. Correct answers are worth 200 points for the first 4. The last question is worth 400 points. At the end of the round, the person with the lowest score on each team is eliminated.

(1) FOOD: The original pound cake recipe called for a pound each of flour, sugar, butter & what 4th ingredient?
(2) TECH: In the 1970s, Michael Hart digitized what American document, technically making it the world’s first e-Book?
(3) SPORTS: The oldest golf course in southern California was built in the 1800s on what famous island?
(4) TV: What Netflix #1 hit series features a complex where workers wear faceless masks with a circle, triangle or square on them?
(5) BOOKS: Whose 1987 autobiography “Timebends” touched on his tumultuous marriage to Marilyn Monroe?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 2:
Ryan 900 Candace 1500 Brendan 1400 / Beastie 1200 Monica 1400 Jonathan 1200

MASTER MINDS TIE-BREAKER: What type of mustache with long, curved ends has part of a bicycle in its name?
ANSWER show

Beast got in there first with the correct answer.

Ryan and Jonathan are eliminated.

Candace and Brendan advance to the next round, as do Beastie and Monica.

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.

Candace and Brendan go first:

(500) A popular Broadway show might offer a ticket that is “SRO”, which is short for what?
(600) Actor Dean Winters plays the character Mayhem in a series of TV commercials for what insurance company?
(700) With a population of over 50 million, Kenya has what two official languages?
(800) Agatha Christie called which of her characters “a detestable, bombastic, tiresome, egocentric little creep”?
(900) Invented by Dr. Willem Kolff, the first dialysis machine was referred to as an artificial version of what organ?
(1000) The common goldfish is a domesticated version of what species of fish?
(1100) Nearly 30 years after starring in “American Graffiti”, who won an Oscar for directing “A Beautiful Mind”?
(1200) The Great Basin Desert, the largest entirely in the U.S., is located primarily in what state?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Scores at end of Round 3:
Candace 2500 Brendan 6000

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

(500) In U.S. legal proceedings, a woman who wishes to remain anonymous or whose name is unknown is referred to as what?
(600) Its scientific name “Pica Pica”, what clever long-tailed bird known for thievery is able to recognize itself in a mirror?
(700) Food for Roman soldiers, “spelt” is a species of what grain?
(800) The largest city in North Carolina was named for what wife of King George III?
(900) Missing since its 1990 theft, “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee” is the only seascape by what Dutch painter?
(1000) The 1917 Zimmerman telegram proposing an alliance between Germany and Mexico goaded the U.S. into what war?
(1100) Which letter of the alphabet is “the Scarlet Letter”?
(1200) One of a select group to have an element named for them, what physicist created the world’s first nuclear reactor?
(1300) In what U.S. city do all 3 major league sports teams wear uniforms of black & gold?
(1400) Which lead character in “The Odd Couple” was a fastidious neat freak?

CORRECT ANSWERS show

Monica finished with 7300 to Beastie’s 4800 so Monica will join Brendan in the Ultimate Trivia Challenge. If Brendan beats Monica, he will win $10,000 again and return on to the show on the Master Minds side.

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

(1) What “American Idol” alum tours with Queen as lead singer?
(2) What breed of small horse named for an Iranian “sea” was previously believed to have been extinct for over 1000 years?
(3) In 2004, what female soccer player retired from the U.S. team with a then-record 158 goals in international competition?
(4) What month is a word found in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet?

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

Brendan got 3 right to Monica’s 2. Brendan wins $20,000 and the next time we see him, he will be on the Master Minds team.

FYI: If you see someone on Master Minds that you think was on Jeopardy!, you can look up their player page on J-Archive. JBoard keeps track of Jeopardy! contestants’ appearances on their Master Minds thread. Also, IMDB has a list of many contestants that includes their last name.

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