2025-2026 Second Chance competition week 1, semifinal game 1.
Eugene Huang — a teacher from Paramus, New Jersey
Erin Li — a psychiatrist from New York, New York
Erik Nielsen — a voice actor from Hollywood, California
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erik? | $5,000 | $7,600 | $18,800 |
$5,599
2nd place: $3,000 |
$18,600
23 R (including 1 DD), 3 W |
| Erin | $1,200 | $4,400 | $8,000 |
$3,799
3rd place: $2,000 |
$8,000
16 R, 3 W |
| Eugene | $1,000 | $3,400 | $16,000 |
$8,001
Finalist |
$16,600
17 R (including 1 DD), 1 W (including 1 DD) |
| A LANDMARK EVENT | GREEK ALPHABET SOUP | POETRY TIME | THE CANADIAN INVASION | "OY" TO THE WORLD | A BOTTLE OF RED, A BOTTLE OF WHITE |
|
$200
[30]
Let me take you uptown 'cause I'm going tothis5-acre landmark in Central Park, dedicated by Yoko Ono in 1985
Strawberry Fields
Eugene
|
$200
[28]
The most dominant animal of either sex in a pack
an alpha
Eugene
|
$200
[24]
Carol Ann Duffy's "Hour" says, "Time hates love, wants love poor / But love spins gold, gold, gold from" this, like Rumpelstiltskin
straw
Erik?
|
$200
[25]
In 2025 he reflected on that whole Kendrick Lamar kerfuffle (everyone called it that, right?) with "What Did I Miss?"
Drake
Erin
|
$200
[29]
A mollusk, or a shade of white
oyster
Erik?
Erin
|
$200
[18]
Don't be embarrassed to tell us this cheeky name for wine that's pink or salmon in color, also known as rosé
blush
Erik?
|
|
$400
[10]
A lovely example of what is--let's be honest--iffy engineering, this famous European structure had its 850th anniv. in 2023
the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Eugene
|
$400
[9]
Software developers use the "open" & "closed" types of this testing to get feedback pre-release from end users
beta
Erin
|
$400
[4]
Shelley wrote of the "Ocean of time, whose waters of deep woe / Are brackish with the salt of human" these
tears
Erin
|
$400
[13]
Santa, the final frontier--in a 2008TV movie, a boy decides he's "Gotta Catch Santa Claus", voiced by this actor from Montreal
William Shatner
Erik?
|
$400
[8]
It's the term for agroup of truckstraveling together
a convoy
Erin
|
$400
[17]
A byproduct of fermentation that was used in popcorn flavoring, diacetyl causes some Chardonnay to have this type of flavor
buttery
Erin
|
|
$600
[22]
In May 2025 this 10-story statue in Rio was illuminated with an image of Pope Francis & a message--"Todos! Todos! Todos!"
Christ the Redeemer
Erin
|
$600
[11]
Old English had a letter called thorn that roughly corresponded to this eighth Greek letter
theta
Erik?
Erin
|
$600
[3]
Shakespeare wrote one of these poems that begins, "Devouring time, blunt thou the lion's paws"
sonnets
Eugene
|
$600
[14]
After a jet engine sucks in a man holding a gun on her in "Game Night", this Ontarian exults but then realizes, "Oh, no, he died"
McAdams
Erin
|
$600
[5]
In case of emergency, there's one of these Russian spacecraft docked at the International Space Station at all times
Soyuz
Erik?
|
$600
[20]
Experts say this bottle size, the equivalent of two standard bottles, provides the optimal liquid to oxygen ratio for aging wine
a magnum
Erik?
|
|
$800
[26]
168 stainless steel plates welded seamlessly make up this 110-ton Chicago landmark unveiled in 2004
"The Bean" ( Cloud Gate )
Erin
|
$800
[12]
This adjective means relating to photons of very high energy
gamma
|
DD
$1,000
[2]
His "Four Quartets" begins, "Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future"; I like the ones about cats
T.S. Eliot
Erik?
|
$800
[15]
"Half Wits" was a game show hosted by Alex Trebel, played by Eugene Levy, on this 4-letter Canadian sketch show
SCTV
Erik?
|
$800
[6]
In a classic children's novel, little Cedric Errol acquires this noble title on the death of his father
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Erik?
|
$800
[21]
This wine gets its name from the pine cone shape of itsgrape clusterson the vine & their dark, almost black color
pinot noir
Erik?
|
|
$1,000
[27]
Site planning for these twin towers in Malaysia began in 1992; excavation saw 500 truckloads of earth get moved per night
the Petronas Towers
Eugene
|
$1,000
[23]
Like Atlantis, this lost continent of the Pacific is said to have sunk beneath the ocean
Mu
Erik?
|
$1,000
[1]
"'Be happy, happy, happy, / And seize the day of pleasure'", says a poem titled this Latin phrase about living for now
carpe diem
Erik?
|
$1,000
[16]
Thisproducer from Toronto staked out his turf on TV in 1975 for the next 50 years
(Lorne) Michaels
Erin
|
$1,000
[7]
The founder of the Jesuits was St. Ignatius of this
Loyola
Erik?
|
$1,000
[19]
These bitter compounds found in grape skin give wine its weight, texture & mouthfeel
tannins
Eugene
|
| THE WORLD IS CHANGING | ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMERS | SCIENCE NONFICTION | NOT TO BE CONFUSED | RELATIVITY | I'M THINKING OF A JAMES... |
|
$400
[29]
Risorgimento was the 19th century movement that culminated in the establishment of a unified kingdom in this country in 1861
Italy
Erik?
|
$400
[24]
2025 selectee Carol Kaye is legendary for her melodic bottom-end work with this instrument on countless hits
bass guitar
Eugene
|
$400
[25]
Dive inside the mind of a creature with neural matter in each of its 8 arms in "The Soul of" this cephalopod
an octopus
Eugene
|
$400
[26]
Süleyman was a 1500s Ottoman Empire sultan; Solomon was a biblical king who "gave unto the Queen of" this "all her desire"
the Queen of Sheba
Erik?
|
$400
[30]
One who goes astray but makes a penitent return, like the biblical nosher of the fatted calf
the prodigal son
Erin
|
$400
[28]
Who wrote a 2016 letter to Congress regarding Hillary Clinton's emails
James Comey
Erik?
|
|
$800
[15]
The 1974 constitution of this country that's no longer around gave Kosovo the status special autonomous province
Yugoslavia
Erik?
|
$800
[5]
What cooler than being cool? The Hall's 2025 induction of this duo
OutKast
Erin
|
$800
[3]
Part of the name of our species is in the name of Yuval Noah Harari's book subtitled "A Brief History of Humankind"
Sapiens
Erik?
|
$800
[17]
Kenny Rogers won 219 games in a 20-year MLB pitching career; a 2nd Kenny Rogers sang, "You got to... know when to fold 'em" in this song
"The Gambler"
Eugene
|
$800
[21]
The principal source of a valuable mineral commodity or, more generally, a big fat heap of anything
the mother lode
Erin
|
$800
[8]
Who was ranked as the worst president in U.S. history by U.S. News & World Report
James Buchanan
Erik?
|
|
$1,200
[18]
The first war between India & Pakistan resulted in a division of this princely state then ruled by a maharaja
Kashmir
Erin
Eugene
|
$1,200
[1]
The Hall's only 3-time inductee, hegot in with The Yardbirds in 1992, with Cream in 1993 & as a solo artist in 2000
Clapton
Erin
|
$1,200
[2]
This director of the Hayden Planetarium has written popular science books for Joe Sixpack like "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry"
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Eugene
|
$1,200
[7]
A conundrum is a puzzling problem; corundum is a mineral that in one of its finer varieties is this blue gem
a sapphire
Erin
|
$1,200
[22]
A female kindred spirit, or the subject of a not universally beloved song by the band Train
soul sisters (soul sister)
Eugene
|
$1,200
[10]
Who maintained until his death that he'd been "set up" for the assassination of Martin Luther King
James Earl Ray
Eugene
|
|
$1,600
[19]
What's today the state of California became part of the U.S. as a result of this treaty
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Eugene
|
$1,600
[4]
The first ever inductee in 1986, hethen led an all-star band through his 1956 classic "Roll Over Beethoven"
Chuck Berry
Eugene
|
$2,000
[14]
"Strata" tells of 4 moments in Earth's history, including the G.O.E., or this event 2.4 billion years ago, that made breathing easier
the Great Oxygenation (Oxidation) Event
Erin
|
$1,600
[12]
Stanford University is in California; Samford University is in Alabama, about an hour from U. of A's main campus in this city
Tuscaloosa
Erik?
Erin
|
$1,600
[23]
A person who offers stern &/or blunt advice, or your dad's brother from the Hague
a Dutch uncle
Erik?
|
$1,600
[9]
Who discovered donut-shaped belts of charged particles in the Earth's magnetic field
Van Allen
Erik?
|
|
DD
$2,000
[20]
As a result of this 1815 meeting, the duchy of Parma & Piacenza was given to Marie-Louise, 2nd wife of the deposed Napoleon
the Congress of Vienna
Eugene
|
$2,000
[6]
The Hall's award for non-performers is named for Ahmet Ertegun, founder of this oceanic record label famed for soul & R&B
Atlantic
Erik?
|
DD
$3,000
[13]
"Entangled Life" by Merlin Sheldrake is about this kingdom; Mr. Sheldrake says much of the world is stitched together by its mycelium
fungus (fungi)
Eugene
|
$2,000
[16]
The islands of Hawaii are a beautiful place to visit; the islets of these are a beautiful place to produce glucagon
Langerhans
Erik?
|
$2,000
[27]
This 3-word question that sounds like polite small talk is a British euphemism for hanky-panky, as in to "fancy a bit of"
How's your father?
Erik?
|
$2,000
[11]
Who drew hundreds of cartoons & six covers for The New Yorker
James Thurber
Eugene
|
Merrimack College is one of 2 Augustinian institutions of higher learning in the U.S.; in the news in 2025, this is the other
Villanova