The First Celebrity Invitational

~This week started the 26th season of Jeopardy. Today was the first of nine celebrity invitationals. One Thursday a month the show will feature three celebrities instead of normal contestants. The celebrities will have been on Jeopardy in the past and will be playing for charity. There will be three semifinals and then a two day final. The winners of each first round show will be guaranteed at least $50,000 and the other two will be given $25,000. The overall winner will receive $1,000,000 for their charity.
~This month's had Andy Richter, Dana Delaney, and Wolf Blitzer. Andy Richter is a stand up comedian who currently plays second banana to Conan O'Brien. Dana Delaney is an actor who is currently in Desperate Housewives. Wolf Blitzer is a talking head on CNN and currently host's a show called Situation Room.
~ All the celebrity contestants get to choose which charity the money goes towards. Andy Richter chose St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Dana Delaney chose Scleroderma Research Foundation. Scleroderma is an auto-immune disease where the body attacks it's own tissue. Wolf Blitzer chose the American Cancer Society.
~In each round they had on category that was a pun to each of the celebrities or their works. In the first round there was Situation Room Comedies, China Not A Beach, and All About Andy. In the second round there was Wolf It Down, Desperado Housewives, and Sexiest Man Alive.
~ Here are some interesting facts that I learned during this episode that you may not have known. On April 1st, 1996 the news reported that Taco Bell had bought the Liberty Bell. It turned out to be an April Fool's joke. Thomas Edison was known as the Wizard of Menlo Park. Menlo Park being a city in New Jersey where he had his lab. Ernest Hemingway also wrote books about hunting and fishing.
~There are three daily doubles in every episode, one in the first round and two in the second. Andy Richter found the first won and bet $3,000. The question was "Who was the man of the century who was on the cover of People in 1929?". He answered Albert Einstein and was correct. Andy also found the second daily double and wagered $10,000. The question was "Who wrote books about hunting and fishing in addition to A Farewell To Arms?". He answered Hemingway and was right again. The last daily double was not found in time.
~By the time final Jeopardy rolled around each celebrity had varying amounts of money. Wolf Blitzer had -$4,600. Dana Delaney had $4,800. Andy Richter had $39,000. Usually they don't let people with negative amounts of money play final Jeopardy, but they make exceptions for the celebrities since they are playing for charity. They gave Wolf $1,000.
~ The category of final Jeopardy was Famous Actor. The question was "Ironically, He lost the lead role on 1960 play, The Bestman, because he didn't look presidential". Wolf Blitzer bet $1,000 and answered Ronald Reagan. He was correct and doubled his money. Dana Delaney also answered right and ended up with $9,300. Andy Richter answered correctly too and won with $68,000.
~The most ironic thing about the episode is that the person who you would have expected to be the smartest, Wolf Blitzer, finished last while Andy Richter, who be expected to be the least capable at Jeopardy, won by a landslide.