Transcript 11/04/2014 Mandy Berry

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Whiz Kids Week

Mandy Berry
Baltimore, MD

Age 14
They said she does a good impression of Terry Crews

+1 is her mother

Question 1 -
Retracing a famous journey, what U.S. National Historic Trail runs from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah?
A. Lewis and Clark trail B. Mormon Pioneer trail
C. Pony Express trail D. Trail of Tears

Mandy used the new lifeline available just this week, "Cut the Question," symbolized by scissors, which is the same as the "Switch the Question" lifeline in the past and replaces the question with a different one.

Cut the Question

Mandy ruled out Trail of Tears and Lewis and Clark because they went to the Pacific and Salt Lake City is not on the Pacific
She said she thinks the Mormons live in Utah, but is not sure where the Pony Express ends.
Was leaning B.

Answer and value

B. Mormon Pioneer trail
Value: CUT
Bank: $0

Replacement Question 1 -
In his famous speech delivered in 1987, President Reagan urged "Mr. Gorbachev" to "tear down this" what?
A. Lenin statue B. Wall
C. Missile silo D. Kremlin

Answer and value

B. Wall
Value: $500
Bank: $500

First break

Question 2 -
It's appropriate for a parent to say, "Hey there, Rip Van Winkle!" if their teenager has just done which of these things?
A. Put on a glass slipper B. Learned to fly
C. Slept for a long time D. Become a wooden puppet

Answer and value

C. Slept for a long time
Value: $100
Bank: $600

Question 3 -
In 2013, a PA newspaper retracted an editorial from 150 years earlier saying that what speech was a bunch of "silly remarks"?
A. Nixon's resignation speech B. Gettysburg Address
C. MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech D. FDR's Pearl Harbor speech

Answer and value

B. Gettysburg Address
Value: $1000
Bank: $1600

Question 4 -
Awarded for his famous post-war recovery "plan," who was the only U.S. general to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?
A. Dwight Eisenhower B. Norman Schwarzkopf
C. George C. Marshall D. Douglas MacArthur

JTQ

said no idea

Answer and value

C. George C. Marshall
Value: $25K jumped
Bank: $1600

Second break

Question 5 -
Since it's technically a cylinder, you can calculate the approximate volume of a deep-dish pizza as "Pi * z * z * a," if "a" is the height and "z" is the what?
A. Circumference B. Diameter
C. Radius D. Surface area

+1

Mandy said she did this in school last year but is not sure so she called her mom to help and reassure her

Answer and value

C. Radius
Value: $10K
Bank: $11600

Third break

QotD
A humor book of real student test answers, "F in Exams" includes the answer "A little lie" on a biology test that asked "What is a" what?
A. Femur B. Clavicle
C. Fibula D. Ulna

QotD

C. Fibula

Question 6 -
For its Halloween episode featuring the "Treehouse of Horror" segment "The Raven," "The Simpsons" listed who in the writing credits?
A. Oscar Wilde B. Emily Dickinson
C. H.P. Lovecraft D. Edgar Allan Poe

Answer and value

D. Edgar Allan Poe
Value: $5000
Bank: $16600

Mandy will return tomorrow with one lifeline ATA remaining

[MarleysGh0st]

<sigh>

Mandy needs to study a bit more history. Or at least work on her confidence; she should have gotten the Mormon Trail and pizza questions without wasting lifelines.

So, did they dumb down the questions for these whiz kids? Should we adults feel no better at getting these questions that we do on the Kids J! episodes? Because I think Isaac and Mandy had a couple of dream stacks.

[earendel]

Whiz Kids Week

Mandy Berry
Baltimore, MD

Age 14
They said she does a good impression of Terry Crews

+1 is her mother

And she did one, something about a bowling ball. I didn't get it.

Question 1 -
Retracing a famous journey, what U.S. National Historic Trail runs from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah?
A. Lewis and Clark trail B. Mormon Pioneer trail
C. Pony Express trail D. Trail of Tears

Mandy used the new lifeline available just this week, "Cut the Question," symbolized by scissors, which is the same as the "Switch the Question" lifeline in the past and replaces the question with a different one.

Cut the Question

Mandy ruled out Trail of Tears and Lewis and Clark because they went to the Pacific and Salt Lake City is not on the Pacific
She said she thinks the Mormons live in Utah, but is not sure where the Pony Express ends.
Was leaning B.

Answer and value

B. Mormon Pioneer trail
Value: CUT
Bank: $0

A pity because she had this one. So far it seems that the whiz kids are no better than regular contestants at lifeline management.

Question 4 -
Awarded for his famous post-war recovery "plan," who was the only U.S. general to receive the Nobel Peace Prize?
A. Dwight Eisenhower B. Norman Schwarzkopf
C. George C. Marshall D. Douglas MacArthur

JTQ

said no idea

Answer and value

C. George C. Marshall
Value: $25K jumped
Bank: $1600

She said the only one that seemed to ring a bell was Eisenhower. I can't fault her for not knowing this.

Question 5 -
Since it's technically a cylinder, you can calculate the approximate volume of a deep-dish pizza as "Pi * z * z * a," if "a" is the height and "z" is the what?
A. Circumference B. Diameter
C. Radius D. Surface area

+1

Mandy said she did this in school last year but is not sure so she called her mom to help and reassure her

Answer and value

C. Radius
Value: $10K
Bank: $11600

Chalk this one up to nerves. She should have been able to see that the "z" in pizza was the equivalent of the "r" in the formula for a cylinder. Her mom is a preschool teacher and joked that she didn't have to teach this.

[earendel]

<sigh>

Mandy needs to study a bit more history. Or at least work on her confidence; she should have gotten the Mormon Trail and pizza questions without wasting lifelines.

So, did they dumb down the questions for these whiz kids? Should we adults feel no better at getting these questions that we do on the Kids J! episodes? Because I think Isaac and Mandy had a couple of dream stacks.

It's hard to say - I thought the questions might have been dumbed down but the Marshall question doesn't appear to support that contention.

[ghostjmf]

Q4: I am old enough to have heard of the Marshall Plan. Like other commenters, I shouldn't fault Mandy for not being versed in Europe's recovery from WWII.

Q5: Was just another demo of nerves about math, sadly. Unlike far older contestants who just give up, she had the answer. But even with her mother's coaching & advice, she barely had the confidence to go with it. What is going on here? I admit I don't remember all the formulas I once knew. But I was sure enough of this one. Calling it ""pizza" is probably a trendy new mnemonic.

[SportsFan68]

Question 1 -
Retracing a famous journey, what U.S. National Historic Trail runs from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah?
A. Lewis and Clark trail B. Mormon Pioneer trail
C. Pony Express trail D. Trail of Tears

Mandy used the new lifeline available just this week, "Cut the Question," symbolized by scissors, which is the same as the "Switch the Question" lifeline in the past and replaces the question with a different one.

Cut the Question

Mandy ruled out Trail of Tears and Lewis and Clark because they went to the Pacific and Salt Lake City is not on the Pacific
She said she thinks the Mormons live in Utah, but is not sure where the Pony Express ends.
Was leaning B.

Answer and value

B. Mormon Pioneer trail
Value: CUT
Bank: $0

This is one of those where all you have to do is be alive for a while. You probably wouldn't have missed all those movies and television shows featuring the Pony Express hauling the mail across Western deserts. Also, you would have known that the Mormons moved to Salt Lake City. You may not have known about Nauvoo, which I didn't until I actually visited there a few years ago. It's right down the river from Burlington, IA, and it's a lovely little town if a bit too Stepfordish for me.

[Kazoo65]

I watched yesterday's show and I was very annoyed with Mandy. She seemed way too perky. I knew all her questions, and I even figured out the math one. It helps that I know that pizza is round-like a circle, so I was leaning toward "radius" as the right answer. I don't get how pizza can be a cylinder-that kind of confused me.

She got a LOT of history questions-which I would love to get.

[ghostjmf]

Kazoo, haven't you eaten deep-dish pizzas? The deepness of the dish is the clue to their cylindricality. They do have height. And good ones manage to have it without tasting bread-y.

Today's contestant (I only got to see part of the last one, because of BAM being superceded by a loathsome political speech by a loathsome political character I'm going to have to put up with for at least 4 years) suffered far worse math anxiety. Simple-arithmetic anxiety. Didn't hardly try, just called up their +1.


On the kids' perkiness quotient: I can put up with perky kids. Kids are allowed to be perky. 30-year-olds, unless they're, like, Amy Pohler playing a role, not so much.

[Estonut]

It helps that I know that pizza is round-like a circle, so I was leaning toward "radius" as the right answer.

How does that help? Circumference, diameter and surface area all apply to cylinders, too.