Beloved trivia game show Jeopardy! concluded its “Greatest of All Time” tournament, hosted by Alex Trebek, in dramatic fashion this week.
The show’s most famous contestant, Ken Jennings, claimed the ultimate crown. To do so, he had to navigate a category about the arts, buzzing in and successfully answering two of five questions, including a pivotal Daily Double—doubling his 15,200 points—that gave him the lead that helped carry him to victory. (The other three questions were answered correctly by a competitor who buzzed in first.)
The best-of-seven competition, which pit Jennings against James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter, saw Jennings take two of the first three episodes. In the fourth and final round, he held on to win when Holzhauer wagered everything he had earned on a Final Jeopardy question, only to answer incorrectly and lose it all.
Jennings, Holzhauer, and Rutter are Jeopardy! legends: Jennings won the most games in the show’s history, with a 74-episode streak in 2004; Holzhauer set new records for the highest single-game earnings 16 times during his 32-game win streak in 2019; and Rutter has won the most prize money of all time, with over $4.68 million since his first appearance in 2000.
So it’s doubtful most of us would be able to compete with them. But culture lovers were probably familiar with some of the questions in the arts category that popped up in the final game of the “Greatest of All Time” tournament, which touched on architecture and theater, in addition to the visual arts.
So how would you have fared? Here are the clues; highlight the text in black to read the answers and to see how you would have stacked up to the competition. (On iPhone, highlight and select “look up.”)
The $400 clue: “In 1957, Danish architect Jørn Utzon won a contest to design this; his winning entry featured sail-like shells.”
What is the Sydney Opera House?
The $800 clue: “Ceramicist Beatrice Wood was nicknamed ‘The Mama’ of this art movement.”
What is Dada?
The $1,200 clue: “In 1605 this Brit wrote ‘Advancement of Learning’; the ‘Screaming Popes’ is a series by a British artist of the same name.”
Who is Francis Bacon?
The $1,600 clue (Daily Double): “In this 1951 play, Serafina’s dead husband sports the title ink on his chest.”
What is The Rose Tattoo?
The $2,000 clue: “In the movie Fur, Nicole Kidman played this photographer of people on the edge of society.”
Who is Diane Arbus?