Ep 275: Paul Breen, Johanna Riley (March 6, 2015; originally aired September 16, 2011)

Rounds: Here.

Disclaimer: I watched this episode when it first aired, and although I did not recall any of it I cannot rule out memory being a factor.


Paul takes his turn in the champion's seat tonight.  This time we find out what he does for a living, which was an unusual omission last night.  He works in the imaging department for a magazine company.  But we're not going to talk about that; instead, Richard mentions that Paul plays baseball.  Paul says that he does not play at a high level, but he plays OK.  But the part that ties this in a bit more with the show's interests is that his uniform number is π.

Tonight's challenger is Johanna Riley, a fine arts student.  Richard informs us that Johanna is hoping to have an exhibition maybe a bit later that year, and Johanna explains that she is going over to New York to apply for a school there.  She has to bring a portfolio, so it seems like a good opportunity; she is hoping to have an exhibition there somewhere in the vicinity of the new year.  At the moment her work includes a lot of realistic life-size portraits of her friends, and she is also working on a much larger piece: A Mylar foil sculpture using helium.


Johanna took the initial lead with a six-letter word to Paul's five, then extended her lead in the first numbers round when Paul made an invalid declaration.  Paul clawed his way back into contention in the second half of the game when Johanna was only able to find five-letter words, and took the lead in the final numbers round.  He was ahead but not safe going into the conundrum, and when he buzzed in early with a wrong answer he must have had a nervous wait.  But Johanna was not able to solve it either, and Paul finished the week with a 36 to 30 win.

I matched David and Lily right up to the conundrum, which ended up being too difficult for me.  A shame, but still a good result.


As usual, details after the jump.