My first two games taped on a Friday, but the crew wasn’t due to return to taping until more than a week later, on that next Tuesday. I think it was related to the IBM Challenge; either way, it gave me ten days of being the reigning Jeopardy! champion, without of course being able to really tell anyone about it. I was excited to come back, and though I agreed with Aimee, who told me I should be proud of what I’d done and happy with the results, I naturally wanted to see if I had it in me to win another game or two.

I drove myself to the studio and arrived after the Radisson shuttle, as everyone was going through the metal detectors. We all filed into the green room, and the excitement at being backstage at Jeopardy! was apparent among all of the newcomers. Not that I wasn’t excited, but I had just been there a few days before, so it was a little less potent. I was happy to sit on the couch, rather than at the table, and I didn’t have any paperwork to fill out. I was again impressed at Maggie’s energy, with her pre-game spiel as enthusiastic as ever. Michael, already a veteran of his brother-in-law’s Jeopardy! run last year, came to the studio again to be my cheering section.

I chatted with a few of the new contestants, but mostly tried to keep focused on the task at hand. I thought I’d try something new in the rehearsal game, but after one or two attempts, I quickly decided “No, I’m not going to buzz in left-handed today.” I tried to work on my timing, and experimented with not looking at the lights, but just going off Glenn’s voice, with mixed results. We played a few rounds, got loose, and chatted amongst ourselves. This time, I was the returning champion, and I felt that weird mixture of intrigue and antagonism the others felt about me just as I had when I was on the week before.

At least this time I didn’t have to wait around to play. Robert told the contestants who would be going up against me, and we got our last minute makeup and mic checks. Then it was on to the game. Again, I don’t remember much about the game, except for feeling outmatched on the buzzer throughout. I did OK on the movie titles and the “112th Congress” category (I didn’t notice at the time that of the five clues in the “112th Congress” category, I got all three responses that were Democrats, and didn’t buzz in for the two Republicans – go figure), but I made my share of mistakes, as well.

Here’s me mistakenly saying “What is ‘One Word Movie Titles’ for 800.” Nice one.

I managed to find all three Daily Doubles this time, and got two out of three correct. I even took the opportunity do what everyone wants to do on the show: tell Alex “Let’s make it a true Daily Double.”

There were a number of categories I didn’t feel strong in, and I made some big mistakes, including “John Smith” on one of the other Daily Doubles, and referring to Dippin’ Dots as “Ice Cream of the Future,” which, though unwieldy, is a much cooler name, and the name by which I referred to them always.

Here’s me quickly running through the “My Very Eager Mother” mnemonic in my head—thanks, Aimee—to get the correct response to the clue, after having rung in without being sure of the answer.

Here’s me craning my neck during our chat to give an idea of how far away our seats are in the Kodak Theater.

By the time Final Jeopardy came around, I was tied for second, a.k.a. last. Thanks to a combination of feeling pretty strongly about the category, “British Landmarks,” and knowing that I had to bet big and hope my opponents got it wrong, I bet it all, save $1, which was apparently terrible wagering strategy.

Luckily, my (lack of) strategy didn’t come back to bite me. The question came up and when I read “director of works,” I immediately thought “Isambard Kingdom Brunel.” Oh, how I would have loved for that to have been the answer. But I looked back at the rest of the question, and the word “nickname” stood out. I was thinking “building” rather than “landmark,” and the only British building I could think of with a nickname was “Big Ben,” of course, even though it’s not technically a building. It seemed right, so I wrote it down and hoped for the best. I was pretty sure my opponents would answer the same way, but I was pleasantly surprised when I was the only one who came up with the right answer.

Here’s me when the answers are revealed, laughing when Alex said he hoped I hadn’t put down “Stonehenge.”

Somehow, I cleaned up and moved on to play another day, finally relaxed enough to clap and smile as my total was announced.

Apparently, I am a giant.

Here’s the game on J! Archive.

For the time being, the show is on YouTube. The shows are no longer on YouTube.

Another update: our answers to some of the questions in the 112th Congress category have made the news (mostly for our combined ignorance of the identity of Eric Cantor, which is fine by me) on CBSNews.com, Politico, and Foxnews.com. Slow news day?