Transcript 09/30/2009 - Benny Shum

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Benny Shum
East Palo Alto, CA
Research Scientist, College Teacher

Laid off of his research job last year, now he's teaching. Meredith asks him about his special pair of underwear? Red silk boxers, red being the luckiest color in China (Benny is originally from Hong Kong) and the word "pants" sounds a bit like the Cantonese word for wealth.

Meredith: "Wow, truly HOT SEAT pants." ba-dum-BUMP!

Question Topics:
*The White House
*The Nobel prize
*Shakespeare
*Science & Nature
*Business
*Military Bases
*Health
*Movie Stars
*Metals
*The History Channel
*Foreign Terms
*Same Name
*U.S. Landmarks
*Across the Pond
*Medical Conditions


$500 - Medical Conditions
"Space sickness" is a job-related risk for a person who works as a what?
A: Farmer B: Astronaut
C: Surgeon D: Intergalactic food critic

Spoiler

B: Astronaut (10)

$1000 - Across the Pond
In British English, a "flat" is an informal word for which of the following?
A: Apartment B: Car
C: Elevator D: Train

Spoiler

A: Apartment (11)

$2000 - U.S. Landmarks
Which of these U.S. landmarks contains holes called "spillways" that can handle 200,000 cubic feet of water per second?
A: Empire State Building B: Gateway Arch
C: Hoover Dam D: Lincoln Memorial

Spoiler

C: Hoover Dam (10)

$3000 - Same Name
Founded in 1970, a popular line of home fitness equipment shares its name with which of these marine animals?
A: Nautilus B: Barnacle
C: Quahog D: Barracuda

Spoiler

A: Nautilus (10)

$5,000 - Foreign Terms
French for "cellarmaster," the term "maitre de chai" refers to a person who manages the aging process of what?
A: Mushrooms B: Wine
C: Coffee beans D: Beef

Benny decides to Ask the Audience with 9 seconds remaining on the clock.

ATA: A: 3% B: 86% C: 5% D: 6%

Meredith: "86% of the drunks in this crowd..." <laughter>

Spoiler

B: Wine (8)

Benny has earned the ATE lifeline, today's expert is Mo Rocca.

$7,500 - The History Channel
In 2009, the History Channel debuted a series recreating Henry Stanley's 1871 trek to find David Livingstone titled "Expedition" what?
A: Africa B: Australia
C: Asia D: Antarctica

After some hesitation, Benny answers.

Spoiler

A: Africa (15)

Benny comments, "I'm a nervous wreck" and Meredith asks how the red silk pants are holding up.

$10,000 - Metals
Rough, crudely-formed iron is called what?
A: Chicken iron B: Sheep iron
C: Pig iron D: Goat iron

Benny immediately decides to Ask the Expert, with 22 seconds on the clock.

Mo: I'm assuming you're kosher if you've never heard "pig iron"
Benny: It's pig iron, why? I haven't a clue...
Mo: Sometimes why is a pointless question.

Spoiler

C: Pig iron (20)

--- Commercial Break ---

Tomorrow Teaser question:

Guantanamo Bay, the infamous U.S. military base, sits on the shore of what body of water?
A: Gulf of Mexico B: Yucatan Channel
C: Straits of Florida D: Caribbean Sea

Meredith asks if Benny is feeling confident, he weakly responds "yeah"

$12,500 - Movie Stars
Years before landing the starring role in the movie "Enchanted," what actress worked briefly as a Hooters waitress? ["it wasn't me," Meredith quips]
A: Jessica Biel B: Amy Adams
C: Anna Faris D: Charlize Theron

Benny thinks he knows the answer, but hasn't seen the movie. He's tempted to use a lifeline, but decides to answer.

Spoiler

B: Amy Adams (5)

$15,000 - Health
In the name of the flu strain known as "H1N1," the "H" and "N" stand for two different types of what?
A: Proteins B: Blood cells
C: Lipids D: Carbohydrates

Before seeing the choices, Benny seems confident he knows this, arms raised in triump. Upon seeing the choices, he is no longer so sure... With 5 seconds left he decides to Double Dip. His first answer is

Spoiler

A

.

Spoiler

A: Protein (5)

HORN!

Benny will return tomorrow to go for $25,000.

Tournament of Ten Leader Board

1. Keilani Goggins $100,000 - 1:53
2. Jeff Birt $100,000 - 1:53
3. Matt Schultz $100,000 - 2:26
4. Tim Janus $100,000 - 2:44
5. Ralph Cambeis $50,000 - 1:13
6. Robin Schwartz $50,000 - 1:40
7. Alex Ortiz $50,000 - 2:19
8. Fred Roberts $50,000 - 2:27
9. Alan Carver $25,000 - 0:30
10. Pam Wroblewski $25,000 - 1:23

[NellyLunatic1980]

$12.5K: I can narrow it down to B and C. I'll ATA.

[Jeemie]

No issues on these.

At $12.5K, once again, it pays to have a teenage daughter.

BTW, I did not see this episode- why does the name "Benny Shum" sound so familiar?

[earendel]

Benny Shum
East Palo Alto, CA
Research Scientist, College Teacher

Laid off of his research job last year, now he's teaching. Meredith asks him about his special pair of underwear? Red silk boxers, red being the luckiest color in China (Benny is originally from Hong Kong) and the word "pants" sounds a bit like the Cantonese word for wealth.

OK, so what is his area of expertise?

$5,000 - Foreign Terms
French for "cellarmaster," the term "maitre de chai" refers to a person who manages the aging process of what?
A: Mushrooms B: Wine
C: Coffee beans D: Beef

Benny decides to Ask the Audience with 9 seconds remaining on the clock.

ATA: A: 3% B: 86% C: 5% D: 6%

Meredith: "86% of the drunks in this crowd..." <laughter>

Spoiler

B: Wine (8)

He didn't catch the reference to "aging" and associate it with wine?

$10,000 - Metals
Rough, crudely-formed iron is called what?
A: Chicken iron B: Sheep iron
C: Pig iron D: Goat iron

Benny immediately decides to Ask the Expert, with 22 seconds on the clock.

Mo: I'm assuming you're kosher if you've never heard "pig iron"
Benny: It's pig iron, why? I haven't a clue...
Mo: Sometimes why is a pointless question.

Spoiler

C: Pig iron (20)

The reason it's called "pig iron" is because it's cast in large molds that look like pigs (IIRC). I do know that Civ IV players get to hear Leonard Nimoy extol "I got pig iron!" when the player achieves the "Steel" advancement.

$12,500 - Movie Stars
Years before landing the starring role in the movie "Enchanted," what actress worked briefly as a Hooters waitress? ["it wasn't me," Meredith quips]
A: Jessica Biel B: Amy Adams
C: Anna Faris D: Charlize Theron

Benny thinks he knows the answer, but hasn't seen the movie. He's tempted to use a lifeline, but decides to answer.

Spoiler

B: Amy Adams (5)

elwing and I happened to catch this movie on the "in-room" TV on one of our cruises.

$15,000 - Health
In the name of the flu strain known as "H1N1," the "H" and "N" stand for two different types of what?
A: Proteins B: Blood cells
C: Lipids D: Carbohydrates

Before seeing the choices, Benny seems confident he knows this, arms raised in triump. Upon seeing the choices, he is no longer so sure... With 5 seconds left he decides to Double Dip. His first answer is

Spoiler

A

.

Spoiler

A: Protein (5)

I'd have thought a scientist might have known this - influenza is a virus, which is basically DNA with a protein coat.

[vettech]

$5,000 - Foreign Terms
French for "cellarmaster," the term "maitre de chai" refers to a person who manages the aging process of what?
A: Mushrooms B: Wine
C: Coffee beans D: Beef

Benny decides to Ask the Audience with 9 seconds remaining on the clock.

ATA: A: 3% B: 86% C: 5% D: 6%

Meredith: "86% of the drunks in this crowd..." <laughter>

Spoiler

B: Wine (8)

He didn't catch the reference to "aging" and associate it with wine?

Beef is aged, too.

[earendel]

$5,000 - Foreign Terms
French for "cellarmaster," the term "maitre de chai" refers to a person who manages the aging process of what?
A: Mushrooms B: Wine
C: Coffee beans D: Beef

Benny decides to Ask the Audience with 9 seconds remaining on the clock.

ATA: A: 3% B: 86% C: 5% D: 6%

Meredith: "86% of the drunks in this crowd..." <laughter>

Spoiler

B: Wine (8)

He didn't catch the reference to "aging" and associate it with wine?

Beef is aged, too.

True, but "aged" and "cellar" sorta point to wine. I've heard of wine cellars and root cellars but never beef cellars (although McDonald's is a beef seller).

[vettech]

(although McDonald's is a beef seller).

[Estonut]

$10,000 - Metals
Rough, crudely-formed iron is called what?
A: Chicken iron B: Sheep iron
C: Pig iron D: Goat iron

Benny immediately decides to Ask the Expert, with 22 seconds on the clock.

Mo: I'm assuming you're kosher if you've never heard "pig iron"
Benny: It's pig iron, why? I haven't a clue...
Mo: Sometimes why is a pointless question.

Spoiler

C: Pig iron (20)

The reason it's called "pig iron" is because it's cast in large molds that look like pigs (IIRC). I do know that Civ IV players get to hear Leonard Nimoy extol "I got pig iron!" when the player achieves the "Steel" advancement.

I was curious about the name, as I had heard it before, but had no idea about its derivation. I looked up the Wikipedia article and found this:

The traditional shape of the molds used for these ingots was a branching structure formed in sand, with many individual ingots at right angles to a central channel or runner. Such a configuration is similar in appearance to a litter of piglets suckling on a sow. When the metal had cooled and hardened, the smaller ingots (the pigs) were simply broken from the much thinner runner (the sow), hence the name pig iron. As pig iron is intended for remelting, the uneven size of the ingots and inclusion of small amounts of sand was insignificant compared to the ease of casting and of handling.

I envisioned the mold in the sand to be something like this:

Code: Select all

    __  ||  __
   [__>-||-<__]
    __  ||  __
   [__>-||-<__]
    __  ||  __
   [__>-||-<__]
    __  ||  __
   [__>-||-<__]
        ||

It looked better with more vertical compression in Notepad...

[tanstaafl2]

$7,500 - The History Channel
In 2009, the History Channel debuted a series recreating Henry Stanley's 1871 trek to find David Livingstone titled "Expedition" what?
A: Africa B: Australia
C: Asia D: Antarctica

After some hesitation, Benny answers.

Spoiler

A: Africa (15)

Benny comments, "I'm a nervous wreck" and Meredith asks how the red silk pants are holding up.

Tomorrow Teaser question:

Guantanamo Bay, the infamous U.S. military base, sits on the shore of what body of water?
A: Gulf of Mexico B: Yucatan Channel
C: Straits of Florida D: Caribbean Sea

That certainly looks like a geo nitwits worst nightmare. Given he hesitated on the 7.5K Q if this guy gets this Q and displays the same confidence about geography I am guessing he won't get past this.