RECAP EXAMPLE: Thursday, September 13

Jim: And now, from Hawaii, here are the stars of America's Game...Pat Sajak and Vanna White!
Pat to Vanna: Hey, why don't we do all our shows in Hawaii? [chuckles]

Let's see if we can recover from Jack Piccata's $100,000 LOSS yesterday. This is Day 4 of us shouting, "Aloha, Hawaii!"

And it's time to do a Toss-Up!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
THING

Ding!

F L O _ _ R E _
S H I _ _
THING

Elisa solves FLOWERED SHIRT.

Elisa: $1,000
Brady: $0
Jess: $0

Let's meet tonight's guests! They're all from the South.
Elisa Delgado: A luxury resort worker from Charleston, SC (Vanna's home state!)
Brady Jensen: A motocross racer from Lexington, KY
Jess Turkowski: A school bus driver from Atlanta, GA

Are you ready for some more random letters? How about another Toss-Up:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
EVENT

Ding!

C O _ O R _ U _
S _ _ S E T
EVENT

Brady solves COLORFUL SUNSET.

Elisa: $1,000
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $0

Tonight's featured trip is to Maine, worth $5,000!

And we have a Jackpot wedge on the big wheel here.
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
FOOD & DRINK

Brady
$900 - No S

[NULL CYCLE]

Jess
$900 - 3 R's
1 E
1 A
FREE PLAY - 2 O's
WILD - 2 N's
1 I
GIFT - 1 C!
$800 - 2 D's
Solve attempt...
Current Bank: $3,550 + GIFT + WILD

_ R O _ N D
C O R I A N D E R
FOOD & DRINK

GIFT TAG WIN! Jess solves GROUND CORIANDER!

AIRED WRONG LETTER: S (Brady)
UNCLAIMED JACKPOT: $8,100

Elisa: $1,000
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $4,550 + WILD

Great to see everyone on the board already!

It's time to party w/ a minigame: 2nd Guess Bonus Round! I dunno what date it's from, but here we go anyway...
_ / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
THING

RSTLNE:
_ / T _ _ _ _
R _ N _
THING

CKMI:
RSTLNE:
_ / T _ _ _ _
R I N _
THING

Brady...is incorrect with A TOUGH RING...

...and no one else has an answer. The answer was A TOPAZ RING.

Elisa: 0
Brady: 0
Jess: 0

Let's move on from that heartbreaker, shall we? We have a Mystery to solve!
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ / _ _ _
THING

Jess
$300 - 1 S
4 E's!
$900 - 1 D
1 U
1/2-CAR ($450) - 1 R
MDW's right side ($1,200 + WILD + 1/2-CAR gone)

S U E D E
_ E _ E _ R _
_ _ _ _ / _ _ _
THING

Elisa
$900 - 1 T
1 O
$800 - 1 L
Solve attempt...
Current Bank: $1,450

S U E D E
_ E _ E L R _
_ _ _ T / _ O _
THING

Elisa solves SUEDE JEWELRY GIFT BOX.

BANKRUPT: Jess ($1,200 + WILD + 1/2-CAR)

Elisa: $2,450
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $4,550

Second minigame of the night is called Most Frequent.
_ _ _ _ / _ 
_ _ _ _ _ _
PHRASE

Will Jess start, please?

Consonants: No T, No S, 3 R's, No N, 1 L, 1 B, No C, No P, No F
Vowels: 2 E's, 2 A's, 1 O

Elisa: 3
Brady: 5
Jess: 2

O _ E R / A
B A R R E L
PHRASE

Brady solves this puzzle, but not OVER A BARREL.

Elisa: 0
Brady: 1
Jess: 0

It's time to ID something...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PROPER NAME

And this something/someone is very important!
PRIZE PUZZLE!
Just who or what is it? We're gonna find out.

Elisa
$600 - 3 N's
3 E's
$300 - 3 T's
No A
Current Bank: $2,200

N _ _ T _ _ E _ T E _ N
_ N _ _ E _ _ _ T _
PROPER NAME

Brady
$700 - 3 R's
2 I's
ONE MILLION - 1 Y!
1/2-CAR ($500) - 1 H
$300 - 2 S's
BANKRUPT near $300 ($2,950 + 1/2-CAR + MDW gone)...OUCH. Everyone's upset (sad reactions).

Jess
Solve attempt...

N _ R T H _ E S T E R N
_ N I _ E R S I T Y
PROPER NAME

Jess IDs (yay!) NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY for a $5,000 trip to Chicago!

WRONG LETTER: A (Elisa)
BANKRUPT: Brady ($2,950 + 1/2-CAR + MDW)

Elisa: $2,450
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $9,550

Very weak game so far.

We've got one last minigame to play, titled High/Low.

Elisa: $3500!
Brady: $550
Jess: $400 (former FP)

Vanna picks the highest amount, so Elisa will go first.

A F F O _ _ _ B _ _
_ O _ S I N G
PLACE

Elisa nails AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

Elisa: 1
Brady: 1
Jess: 0

There's a TIE btw. Elisa and Brady, but it looks like Elisa's our new Minigame Champ! Good job.

Toss-Up time!
_ _ _ / &
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
PROPER NAMES

An excited (happy reaction) ding!

H B _ / &
_ H _ _ T _ _ E
PROPER NAMES

Elisa's silent.

And guess what?

H B O / &
S H O W T I M E
PROPER NAMES

Nobody else rung in! Wow. That means we've got a TRIPLE STUMPER already. The answer was HBO & SHOWTIME.

Elisa: $2,450
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $9,550

Since Elisa messed up that Toss-Up, Brady will start the next round.
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
IN THE KITCHEN

Brady
$350 - 2 T's
No O
Current Bank: $450

Jess
$600 - No S

_ _ T T _ _
_ _ _ _ _
IN THE KITCHEN

Ding 4x!
Time to put an end to this ugly game. Pat lands on...$800, so consonants are worth $1,800 apiece.

Next Up: 1 R

_ _ T T _ R
_ _ _ _ _
IN THE KITCHEN

And Elisa quickly redeems herself with BUTTER KNIFE for $1,800.

WRONG LETTERS (before the FS): O (Brady), S (Jess)

Elisa: $4,250
Brady: $2,000
Jess: $9,550

Brady sure fizzled out (ended weakly) after solving the first Toss-Up.

Maingame Winnings: $15,600 (obviously NOT good)
Bankrupt Trash: $4,150 + 1/2-CAR + 1/2-CAR + WILD + MDW

Let's hope Jess can do a whole lot better here. Her spin could net her that nice Motorcycle or a lot more dough - it's the ' (apostrophe) in AMERICA'S.
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
FICTIONAL CHARACTER

RSTLNE:
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ R L E _
FICTIONAL CHARACTER

YDHA:
_ A _ _ _
_ A R L E Y
FICTIONAL CHARACTER

She BLOWS IT with BACKO GARLEY (40 seconds) and MAWIG GARLEY (36 sec.) before giving up at 31 seconds. The answer was JACOB MARLEY (from "A Christmas Carol"), and she loses $30,000. Final total: just $9,550, making her the LOWEST-WINNING PLAYER so far. NOT a pretty show, in my opinion (IMO).

My rating: 2.5 (Where did an episode like this come from in the first place?)