WHAT IS OTTAWA? JEOPARDY! PLAYERS BLANK ON THIS ONE

“An annual event called Winterlude includes skating on the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in this city.” When host Ken Jennings read the final answer on the episode of Jeopardy! broadcast Tuesday night, neither remaining contestant could come up with this world capital. “Paris,” guessed Genesis Whitlock, a diversity and inclusion professional from Brooklyn, N.Y. “Amsterdam,” hazarded Amy Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, Calif., who still kept up a winning streak. “It has canals, but no, the

Rideau Canal runs through Ottawa, Canada,” Jennings said. Of course, the contestants would have aced the question had they boned up on the life of the late, great Alex Trebek. The longtime Jeopardy! host, who died of pancreatic cancer in November 2020, was born in Sudbury, but graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1961 and never forgot the capital, even as his fame grew. He put his money where his heart was, donating millions to his alma mater, which named Alex Trebek Alumni Hall in his honour.