Final Jeopardy: African Countries (11-17-15)
The Final Jeopardy question (11/17/2015) in the category “African Countries” was:
These 2 6-letter rhyming countries both derive their names from rivers and were both once controlled by Great Britain.
The 2nd semi-final match in the 2015 Tournament of Champions features QF winners, Alex Jacob and Brennan Bushee and Wild Card winner, Vaughn Winchell.
Round 1: Vaughn found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Bible Books” under the $400 clue. He was in second place with $1,600, $2,200 less than Alex in the lead. He went all in but couldn’t come up with anything so he was WRONG.
The two lofty positions that lend their names to Old Testament Books show
Alex finished in the lead with $11,600, Vaughn was second with $2,800 and Brennan was last with zero.
Round 2: Brennan found the first Daily Double in “History 101” under the $2,000 clue. He was in third place with $1,600, $14,800 less than Alex in the lead. Not wishing to go in the hole, he bet the $1,600 he had and he was RIGHT.
Berenice III, who became Queen of Egypt in 101 B.C., was the daughter of the IX Pharaoh of this name. show
Alex found the last Daily Double in “Ex Files” under the $12,000 clue. At $24,400, he had more than twice Brennan’s second place score of $10,800. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
He became the USA’s ex-VP in 1981. show
Alex finished in the lead with $28,200. Brennan was next with $11,600 and Vaughn was in third place with $8,000.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Wikipedia has a page on the Decolonization of Africa that you can sort by column. When you click on the “Colonial Power” column, they sort by the power and the year of independence. That makes the 2 rhyming countries come up one after the other, since Zambia (formerly Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia) gained independence in 1964 and Gambia (formerly Gambia Colony and Protectorate) in 1965.
Vaughn wrote down Rwanda and Uganda. Trebek said they kind of rhyme but are not named for rivers. Also, Rwanda gained its independence from Belgium. Vaughn bet and lost it all.
Brennan had the same answer as Vaughn. He lost his $6,000 bet and finished with $5,600.
Alex didn’t bother with it, having already won. He wrote down “Aleve” and bet nothing so he stayed at $28,200. So he is the second semi-finalist who will be playing on Thursday and Friday.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “The 2012 Olympics”
NBC reported that in the first days of Olympic coverage, this sport seen in recent books & on film was the most watched on cable.. show
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Well, we know Matt’s gonna win today, so I think that out of Kerry, Alex, and Matt, Matt will win (in Season 32) $661,612
@vj, it was quite obvious Alex did not know fj which is why he wrote “Aleve.” Don’t forget during his 7-game run during regular season he only got 2 fj’s correct and in this TOC he has none correct.
Alex is smart. He builds up a big lead, particularly in the first round, and clinches a runaway so he does not have to depend on fj to win the game. I like his strategy.
Btw, tonight he answered 32 clues correct and only 1 incorrect in rounds 1&2. His Coryat score was 26,400. These stats are nothing to sneeze at. He was superb.
He started writing “Aleve” immediately, so he didn’t even bother trying to think of the correct answer, so we don’t know whether he knew it or not.
You mean like he did during one of the regular games fj when he wrote immediately “What is I love you Jenn?” instead of writing a correct response. He’s got a sense of humor. What’s wrong with that when a contestant has a runaway game? He’s not the first to do this.
Yes, I mean like that. I never said there was anything wrong with that; I think it is great. You were the one that said “it was quite obvious Alex did not know fj”, which is simply not true at all.
little slow with that 2nd round daily double, alex rarely says something. Almost looked liked an idiot.
To be honest, I was not amused by the Aleve answer and would have preferred to know if he knew it or not.
@Cece, you were right. Alex certainly kicked butt. Congrats to semi-finalists Vaughn and Brennan all the same on their $10K prizes
Well, like Tom mentioned, Brennan didn’t buzz once in the 1st round; it’s impressive how he went into FJ with $11,600. Had he gotten a DD he could’ve stopped Alex from having a runaway. And btw, what’s with Alex’s long pauses before betting on a DD? Even AT said something like “strange behaviour”.
I’m with you on the Aleve joke—not funny. An impressive performance though.
Here is a link to Alex Jacob’s first game, where he took about 10 seconds to make his DD bet. It’s called stalling.
I know and it’s ugly ( I remember that game).
He wasn’t stalling; he was calculating how much to bet to ensure a runaway even if second place got all the remaining clues correct.
I really don’t believe he was concerned that Brennan would get all the remaining clues. More likely, he was concerned that he could get the DD wrong, but there were only 6 clues left. 4 were worth $400 and 2 were worth $800. Why would it take 9-10 seconds to figure out what to bet with that?
one of the easy fj’s if you know geography or Africa.
Someone might get it wrong.
I watch Jeopardy as a test of knowledge, but today’s show really proved it’s more a test of pushing a button. Brennan didn’t ring in even once in the first round. That’s very unusual. But we were told why Alex is so good at pushing the button – he practiced with his toilet paper holder.
It suddenly became clear to me, once and for all, that I watch a show which is fundamentally a test of how well someone pushes a button, more than any other skill.
We’ll all be on the edge of our seats, I’m sure, to find out Friday who’s better on the button, Alex or Matt. Considering the state of the world these days, on my list of concerns, this comes in at #756,345,912. I’d list out my greater concerns, but I don’t have the time right now.
Alex was an accomplished poker player. YouTube has him at the WSOP with a sweet fro (fro-pro), or at the WPT.
Good luck, Alex!
@Eric, not only is he an accomplished poker player he graduated Yale with a double major in Economics (yours also if I remember correctly) and Math. Surely a gifted guy
43/61. Never thought of Rwanda and Uganda.
Very impressive performance by Alex. Congrats!
OK, color me surprised (and still entirely incapable of predicting FJ results, sheesh). Do Uganda and Rwanda ryhme? Maybe I’m mispronouncing one of them.
The Rhyming Dictionary says they do. It works really well if you say R-wahn-da and U-gahn-da. :):) but Alex Trebek didn’t pronounce Uganda that way.
I like that Alex had another runaway game. His humor is unmatched with the “Aleve” response. Maybe the company will have do a commercial. 🙂 🙂
Surprised at the other 2 fj responses. Gambia is the basis for the book “Roots” and where Alex Haley traced his ancestry.
Throw in Zambia and bingo!
Well, I came to Zambia first when I saw it. It went (African countries named after rivers) Congo (x) Niger (x) Zambia (bingo) Gambia
I think he’s gonna win $250,000.