Ok. I'm going to talk about a few things I remember from the game, but not too much detail - if you want to see a full transcript of all the questions, go here
Anyway, the game got off to a pretty inauspicious start - I didn't know the answer to the first $200 question.
Deepa was REALLY fast. And smart. And she kept buzzing in on things that I knew before I could. I was behind for most of the game. Even after watching it several times I'm not sure when/how I pulled ahead. I didn't find any of the daily doubles all day. Then again, the first DD that Deepa got (Bob Hope) I would NEVER have known.
No matter, going into Final Jeopardy I somehow had a lead of $3200. The category, Health and Medicine, meant nothing to me, but I knew what I had to bet. The question (er, answer, er, CLUE) was "Named for the region in Uganda where it was discovered in 1937, it was first detected in the U.S. in 1999". My first instinct was Ebola, but then I remembered reading The Hot Zone before 1999, so it couldn't be that. Then I thought for a second and remembered what was the recent big deal disease in NJ where I had grown up, and where most of my family still lives. I wrote down my answer, and I was pretty sure it was right. I also felt a twinge of guilt at being the only player from that part of the country.
They read off Beth's answer - she said Ebola, and they said that was wrong. Suddenly I just *knew* I was going to win $30,000+. Unbelievable. Then they read off Deepa's answer, and she made a guess, and I felt even better. Then they stopped the game.
They do this every once in a while when they want to check on an answer and make sure their ruling is exactly right. (I had seen a 60 Minutes special on Jeopardy! a couple weeks before, and they showed a part of the filming of the college tournament - they had asked a clue about what do you call a mathematical equation where all the unknowns are only to the first power. They were looking for "linear equation" but the player said "first order equation". They checked, and decided his answer was acceptable.) But I'm told that usually they stop the game for a minute or two.
After about ten minutes, I suddenly realized what the problem was - I had put down "West Nile Fever" instead of the "West Nile Virus" they were obviously looking for. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know if there was such a thing as West Nile Fever. Going into the show, I knew there was a possibility I'd be totally outclassed - I could deal with that. I also knew there was a possibility I would do pretty well, but lose because I didn't know the answer to FJ. I could deal with that, too. But to go into FJ with the lead, bet the right amount, know the answer and STILL lose? I didn't know how I would deal with that THAT.
And we waited and waited.
After what must have been over half an hour, they resumed the game just like that. Alex read my response, said something like "West Nile Fever, which is caused by West Nile Virus, that's right". And I'd won. I think that was the most stressful half-hour of my whole life. I know you're supposed to look happy when you win, especially when you win big. But I think I look even happier/more relieved than I probably ought to - the above story is why.
At the very end of the show, Alex told me he didn't want to give it to me, but that the judges had overruled him -- after they called the CDC. That's what the delay was.
Much later, I finally found out the scoop - there IS a West Nile Fever. The big scary disease that West Nile Virus causes is called West Nile Encephalitis. But it also causes a much milder illness called West Nile Fever. Phew!
So, back to the dressing room to change and have my makeup redone, and then it's