Transcript 12/12/2008 - Owen Jenkins (carryover contestant)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Owen Jenkins
Rutland, MA

Topic tree:
- A Different Breed
- The Nobel Prize
- On The Books
- Give Me a Hug
- Founding Fathers
- The Euro
- Don Rickles
- Dante
- Spirited Away
- American Teens
- Famous Siblings
- Reach for the Sky
- Disney Characters
- Kick Butt
- Hummingbirds

Owen is now an American citizen with four children, a minivan and his own soccer team. He was asked to coach one of the town teams - the one his son Austin plays for - and he believes he was asked to coach because of his British accent. The parents believe that gives the team an unfair advantage. The audience is shown a picture of Owen's fourth child. Owen had to use his ATA on the $300 question because he didn't know which Disney character wore a collar (Pluto).

$500 - In order to win the $20 million Google Lunar X Prize, a team of go-getters must land an exploratory vehicle where?
A - inside Mt. St. Helen's
B - on the moon
C - atop Mount Everest
D - at the South Pole

Spoiler

Owen says that "lunar" is the clue.

B - on the moon (4)

$1K - Which of these famous siblings are currently professional football players?
A - Manning brothers
B - Coen brothers
C - Wayans brothers
D - Baldwin brothers

Spoiler

A - Manning brothers (5)

Owen has now earned the Ask the Expert lifeline. Today's expert is morning anchor for New York One news Pat Kiernen. Pat's daughter Maeve is on-screen with him. She wanted to see what was going on in the computer room. Meredith says that maybe Maeve can help him.

$2K - In a 2008 news article, a notorious rashof teen pregnancies at a Massachusetts high school was attributed to what?
A - the Titanic Effect
B - the Juno effect
C - the Gladiator effect
D - the Braveheart effect

Spoiler

B - the Juno effect (17)

$4K - Which of these spirits is named after a town in Mexico?
A - tequila
B - amaretto
C - sambuca
D - bourbon

Spoiler

A - tequila (22)

$8K - In Dante's classic "The Divine Comedy," an inscription at the entrance to Hell instructs "ye who enter here" to do what?
A - repent thy sins
B - pray for mercy
C - forget the past
D - abandon all hope

Spoiler

D - abandon all hope (22)

commercial break

Owen has his wife, Kristen, and three of his children - Madeline, Austin and Corey - in the audience. Meredith asks Austin what he wants his dad to do with the money. He replies, "Give it to me."

$16K - Comedian Don Rickles is known for using what sports-themed insult to berate his audience members?
A - bowling ball
B - ski pole
C - hockey puck
D - shuttlecock

Spoiler

Owen obviously has no idea and with 22 seconds on the clock he decides to phone a friend. On his PAF list are: his cousin Mark in New York City; his employee Wes in Somerville, MA; and Colin, a 5th-grade teacher in Rutland, MA. Owen opts to call Colin. Owen paraphrases the question and gives the answers. He tells Colin he thinks it's "hockey puck" but Colin says he's about 10% sure that it's "bowling ball". Owen thinks "hockey puck" is a pretty good insult but he's not sure, so he decides to use his Double Dip with 12 seconds remaining on the clock. His first choice is "C" and Meredith tells him his instincts were correct.

C - hockey puck (12)

Meredith says she thinks the next question might be a good one for him since it's about the Euro and Owen is British.

$25K - Which of these countries in the European Union does not use the euro as its official country? (Owen breaks in and says "mine" while Meredith is reading the question.)
A - Germany
B - France
C - Austria
D - Denmark

Spoiler

Owen looks a little chagrined that Great Britain wasn't one of the choices. Owen says that Germany and France do. He also says something that sounded like "Denmark doesn't like being in Europe and Austria is close to Germany." Owen decides to Ask the Expert with 9 seconds on the clock. Pat is certain that France and Germany use the euro. Owen says that Denmark recently voted against something dealing with the EU but isn't sure. Pat says he isn't sure, either, but he leans toward Denmark. Meredith says she knows Owen likes to gamble. But Owen isn't willing to gamble this time and walks away, allowing time to expire.

D - Denmark (0)

commercial break

[earendel]

Owen Jenkins
Rutland, MA

Owen's profession was never disclosed.

Owen has now earned the Ask the Expert lifeline. Today's expert is morning anchor for New York One news Pat Kiernen. Pat's daughter Maeve is on-screen with him. She wanted to see what was going on in the computer room. Meredith says that maybe Maeve can help him.

Heaven knows he needs some help!

$8K - In Dante's classic "The Divine Comedy," an inscription at the entrance to Hell instructs "ye who enter here" to do what?
A - repent thy sins
B - pray for mercy
C - forget the past
D - abandon all hope

Spoiler

D - abandon all hope (22)

In my junior English course (called "Humanities") we read portions of "The Inferno" from John Ciardi's translation. I loved it so much that I bought all three volumes and read them. Ciardi did a masterful job of simulating the terza rima style of the original Italian.

Owen has his wife, Kristen, and three of his children - Madeline, Austin and Corey - in the audience. Meredith asks Austin what he wants his dad to do with the money. He replies, "Give it to me."

Sounds like Owen's raising a future Gordon Gecko!

$16K - Comedian Don Rickles is known for using what sports-themed insult to berate his audience members?
A - bowling ball
B - ski pole
C - hockey puck
D - shuttlecock

Spoiler

Owen obviously has no idea and with 22 seconds on the clock he decides to phone a friend. On his PAF list are: his cousin Mark in New York City; his employee Wes in Somerville, MA; and Colin, a 5th-grade teacher in Rutland, MA. Owen opts to call Colin. Owen paraphrases the question and gives the answers. He tells Colin he thinks it's "hockey puck" but Colin says he's about 10% sure that it's "bowling ball". Owen thinks "hockey puck" is a pretty good insult but he's not sure, so he decides to use his Double Dip with 12 seconds remaining on the clock. His first choice is "C" and Meredith tells him his instincts were correct.

C - hockey puck (12)

We already know Owen isn't familiar with Disney characters so he probably doesn't know about "Toy Story". There's a scene in which Mr. Potato Head (voiced by Don Rickles) says, "What are you looking at, hockey puck?" and a hockey puck walks into the scene.

$25K - Which of these countries in the European Union does not use the euro as its official country? (Owen breaks in and says "mine" while Meredith is reading the question.)
A - Germany
B - France
C - Austria
D - Denmark

Spoiler

Owen looks a little chagrined that Great Britain wasn't one of the choices. Owen says that Germany and France do. He also says something that sounded like "Denmark doesn't like being in Europe and Austria is close to Germany." Owen decides to Ask the Expert with 9 seconds on the clock. Pat is certain that France and Germany use the euro. Owen says that Denmark recently voted against something dealing with the EU but isn't sure. Pat says he isn't sure, either, but he leans toward Denmark. Meredith says she knows Owen likes to gamble. But Owen isn't willing to gamble this time and walks away, allowing time to expire.

D - Denmark (0)

commercial break

A shame he didn't gamble. He had the answer and the reason for it but couldn't pull the trigger. The expert is supposed to be a newsperson, too, so this might have been something he would know. But, alas, the expert is no real help again.

[NellyLunatic1980]

$25K: PAF. I know that Germany and France use the Euro.