2025-2026 Second Chance competition week 2, final game 2.
Guy Branum — a writer and comedian from West Hollywood, California (subtotal of $16,000)
Michelle Tsai — a tutor originally from Honolulu, Hawaii (subtotal of $19,200)
Melanie Hirsch — an attorney from Silver Spring, Maryland (subtotal of $12,000)
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie | $5,400 | $6,200 | $10,600 | $21,100 |
$10,600
16 R (including 1 DD), 1 W |
| Michelle | $2,800 | $5,400 | $14,600 | $15,201 |
$14,600
19 R, 3 W |
| Guy! | $0 | $800 | $9,200 | $13,001 |
$12,400
16 R (including 1 DD), 4 W (including 1 DD) |
| HISTORY "P"s & "Q"s | SOIL, BREEZE & CONFLAGRATION | 4-LETTER BUSINESSES | WHY SO BLUE? | ALL KINDS OF SPORTS | ONE MORE TIME |
|
$200
[28]
Laws in the Mass. Bay Colony against this sect forced missionary Mary Dyer to be imprisoned & later, caused her martyrdom
Quakers
Guy!
|
$200
[29]
Can't get much more resilient than this mythic bird that dies on a cinnamon-scented pyre & is reborn from the ashes
a phoenix
Melanie
|
$200
[30]
Known for its distinctivehood ornament, this company is one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks
Mack
Guy!
|
$200
[27]
The U.S. Air Force's "Project Blue Book" was a program to investigate reports of these during the 1950s & '60s
UFOs
Guy!
|
$200
[26]
Contested almost every year since 1911, the Indy 500 auto race is held on the weekend of this holiday
Memorial Day
Michelle
|
$200
[23]
You might hear this, French for "still" or "yet", after a great performance, though probably not in France
encore
Guy!
|
|
$400
[14]
A boycott & strike in one, the 1894 strike of this company's railroad workers got President Cleveland involved
Pullman
Melanie
|
$400
[24]
The composer of these violin concerti included sonnets to go with them; the first mentions spring & its gentle breezes
The Four Seasons
Michelle
|
$400
[15]
Amancio Ortega originally named his fast fashion store after Zorba the Greek but ended up using this similar-sounding name
Zara
Michelle
|
$400
[19]
Thisbreed is also known as the archangel cat
a Russian Blue
Melanie
|
$400
[25]
This QB moved from the Jets to the Steelers in 2025 & led his new team over his former one 34-32 on opening day
(Aaron) Rodgers
Michelle
|
$400
[20]
It's a waste of time to do this 3-word idiom, once again design a device that's been around since ancient Mesopotamia
reinvent the wheel
Melanie
|
|
$600
[2]
A 1680 rebellion named for these indigenous people overthrew Spanish rule in New Mexico for a time
the Pueblo
Guy!
|
$600
[16]
This novel says, "Wang Lung put his hoe down hard into the soil"
The Good Earth
Michelle
|
$600
[4]
This store is named after the initials of the founder, the farm he grew up on & a nearby Swedish village
IKEA
Guy!
|
$600
[6]
Set across from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, this structure named for the color of its interior was built in the 17th century
the Blue Mosque
Melanie
|
$600
[10]
Referring to his physique, it's the nickname of Cal Raleigh, the new record holder for home runs in a season by a catcher
"Big Dumper"
Melanie
|
$600
[11]
The L.A. Times wasn't talking about computers when it said Kim Cattrall "was notably left out" of the "Sex & the City" this
reboot
Michelle
|
|
$800
[1]
History had several coalitions called this Alliance; the Napoleonic war one was made of Austria, Prussia, Russia & Britain
the Quadruple Alliance
Melanie
Guy!
|
$800
[17]
Breezes come between light airs & gales on this scale devised by a Royal Navy officer
the Beaufort Scale
Melanie
|
$800
[5]
It's the colorfully named clothing & lingerie line from Victoria's Secret
Pink
Michelle
|
$800
[7]
Theseextend southward for about 600 miles from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia
the Blue Ridge Mountains
Michelle
Guy!
|
$800
[21]
Normally with 6 in a game, a chukka of around 7 minutes is a period of play in this sport
polo
Michelle
|
$800
[12]
From Latin for "repeat", it means to say something again & again, with or without an initial "re"
iterate
Michelle
|
|
DD
$1,000
[3]
Surname of General Grigory, wooer of Catherine the Great; he was said to have fabricated fake villages to win her favor
Potemkin
Melanie
|
$1,000
[18]
2-word term for a fire that breaks out without heat from an outside source; a moment of silence for Spinal Tap's drummers, please
spontaneous combustion
Michelle
|
$1,000
[9]
Bernard Arnault's LVMH empire includes this fashion house founded by Christian
Dior
Melanie
|
$1,000
[8]
Toni Morrison wrote "The Bluest Eye"; about a century prior, this Brit wrote "A Pair of Blue Eyes"
Thomas Hardy
Michelle
|
$1,000
[22]
The final issue of ESPN The Magazine, the 2019 Body Issue included Brooks Koepka of this sport not known for buffness
golf
Melanie
|
$1,000
[13]
You'll find this idiom meaning to do something more than once on many a shampoo bottle
lather, rinse, repeat
Melanie
|
| ALPHABETICALLY FIRST | AROUND THE WORLD | A RIDDLE | RAPPED | IN A MYSTERY | INSIDE AN ENIGMA |
|
$400
[23]
Of the 5 Great Lakes
Erie
Michelle
Guy!
|
$400
[25]
In 1983, Disney opened its firsttheme parkoutside the U.S. near this Asian capital
Tokyo
Michelle
|
$400
[21]
A TED Talk called "Why Do We" do this doesn't actually have the answer, but theorizes memory consolidation & restoration
Sleep
Guy!
|
$400
[30]
In a viral hit she rapped thee lyrics, "I'm a savage / Classy, bougie, ratchet"
Megan Thee Stallion
Melanie
|
$400
[29]
In this story Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a newlywed & her maid on board an Egyptian cruise
Death on the Nile
Melanie
|
$400
[28]
This possessive pronoun is a homonym for a place you can sink deep in
mine
|
|
$800
[22]
Of the Ivy League universities
Brown
Michelle
|
$800
[24]
The Vietnamese Lunar New Year is commonly referred to by this 3-letter name
Tet
Guy!
|
$800
[20]
We are not quite sure why this shield around Earth flips every few 100,000 years--it might relate to our solid inner core
our magnetic field
Michelle
|
$800
[26]
Back in 2000, Jay-Z was "Big" this, "spendin' cheese" "Big" this "on B-L-A-Ds"
pimpin'
Michelle
Guy!
|
$800
[19]
In this Umberto Eco novel, a learned Franciscan friar investigates a series of deaths at a 14th century Italian monastery
The Name of the Rose
Melanie
|
$800
[27]
Here's the jellyfish called the lion's this, the outstanding characteristic of male lions
mane
Guy!
|
|
$1,200
[7]
Of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Donatello
Michelle
|
$1,200
[2]
While this island country uses the Greek national anthem, some of its people prefer to use the Turkish one
Cyprus
Michelle
|
$1,200
[13]
Films from 1956 & 1997 provided a hopeful ending to the mystery behind this youngest daughter of Nicholas II
Anastasia
Michelle
|
$1,200
[16]
Feeling seen by Rick Ross:"Everyday I'm" this"Everyday I'm" this"Everyday I'm" this"Everyday I'm" this
hustlin'
Guy!
|
$1,200
[11]
In this Mark Haddon novel, a teen's effort to solve the killing of a neighbor's pet reveals secrets of jealousy & revenge
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Melanie
|
$1,200
[4]
With films like "Princess Mononoke" & "Spirited Away", Hayao Miyazaki excels in this style
anime
Guy!
|
|
$2,000
[6]
Of NATO countries, since 2009
Albania
|
$1,600
[1]
The highlight of Carnival in Rio is the parade named for this Brazilian dance, featuring thousands of participants
the samba
Guy!
|
$1,600
[14]
One of the riddles of the universe:What exactly are these 2 mysterious components that make up 95% of everything?
dark matter & dark energy
|
$1,600
[18]
On "Work It", sherapped, "Put my thing down / Flip it & reverse it"; then the same line is rapped in reverse
Missy Elliott
Melanie
|
DD
$2,000
[9]
In this short story by Edgar Allan Poe, C. Auguste Dupin solves the mystery of an apparently stolen item being used for blackmail
"The Purloined Letter"
Guy!
|
$1,600
[8]
It sounds like an angry word, but it refers to one's bearing or character
mien
Guy!
|
|
DD
$3,600
[5]
Of the traditional birthstones
amethyst
Guy!
|
$2,000
[3]
Strongest in winter, it's a cold, dry wind that blows through southern France; van Gogh wrote about it in letters to Theo
the mistral
|
$2,000
[15]
The fate of the crew of the Mary Celeste, found abandoned 400 miles east of these Portuguese islands in 1872, remains a mystery
the Azores
Michelle
|
$2,000
[17]
In "California Love" Dr. Dre rhymes, "They clock me & watch me / Diamonds shinin', lookin' like I robbed" this extravagant pianist
Liberace
Guy!
|
$2,000
[10]
A quartet of 70-year-olds in a retirement village solves crimes in this "Murder Club", the first of a Richard Osman series
Thursday
Michelle
|
$2,000
[12]
The demodectic kind of this skin disease can be caused by the parasitic mite Demodex canis
mange
|
In 2015 a foreign government said this would be abolished to "increase labor supply & ease pressures from an aging population"
the one-child policy (of China)