Final Jeopardy: Trees (1-16-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/16/2025) in the category “Trees” was:
Order Arecales, this tree gets its name from Roman times; a leaf from one was placed in a victor’s hands after a contest was won
Today’s Champions Wildcard contestants in QF4 are: Joey DeSena, a development engineer from Raleigh, NC; Mehal Shah, a software engineer from Seattle, WA; and Eamonn Campbell, a lawyer orig. from Manchester, VT.
Round 1 Categories: Dams – 10-Letter Vocab – Where’s the Beef? – History – Look at This Photograph – Every Time I Do It Makes Me Laugh
Joey found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “History” under the $600 clue on the very first pick of the round. Nobody had any money. Joey bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
Before a papal tribunal in 1633, he stated, “I abjure, curse & detest the aforesaid errors” show
Mehal finished in the lead with $6,600. Joey was second with $6,200 and Eamonn was last with $2,800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Short Stories – Common Bands – Travel USA – The Jete Set – Make Mine Math – “More” or “Less”
Mehal found the first Daily Double in “Travel USA” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $7,800 now, $1,600 less than Joey in second place. Mehal bet all of it and he was RIGHT.
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in this Alabama city displays one of the world’s largest collections of space memorabilia show
Joey found the last Daily Double in “‘More’ or ‘Less’” under the $800 clue with 8 clues left after it. He was in second place with $11,800, $7,000 less than Mehal’s lead. Joey bet $11,000 and he was RIGHT.
The Pope endorsed neither candidate in the 2024 U.S. Presidential election but said voters should choose this show
Joey finished in the lead with $24,000. Jay was second with $19,600 and Eamonn was last with $9,600. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS A PALM?
Palms were such a big deal in Ancient Rome that, according to historyfacts.com, palm trees “were so closely associated with victory, the Latin word ‘palma’ is essentially a metonym for the word ‘victory’.” Palms were awarded to victors, including conquering military heroes and top athletes. “Roman lawyers were known to affix palm fronds to their front doors when they won a case in the forum.” A palm was also a unit of measurement in Ancient Rome.
Succulent-plants.com says “the Arecales is an order of flowering plants containing the single family Arecaceae Syn. Palmae. (Palm Trees).” Technically, palms are said to be plants (not trees) “with large fan (palmate) or feather (pinnate) leaves.”
Eamonn went with laurel. He bet and lost his whole $9,600.😭
Mehal thought it was laurel, too. After a zero bet, he still had a very respectable $19,600.
Joey made it a laurel trifecta. He also bet nothing so he won the game with the $24,000 he already had. Joey is a semi-finalist and it’s safe to say that Mehal has secured a Wild Card.
The last game I could find when everyone had the same wrong response in FJ! was on 4-18-24 in the category Alphabetical America.
A triple stumper from each round:
SHORT STORIES ($2000) Faulkner penned a tale called “A Rose for” this reclusive Southern belle
TRAVEL USA ($2000) With its aquarium & museum, this quaint seaport village is one of Connecticut’s top places to visit
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “BRITISH LANDMARKS”
Like Sir Thomas More, 3 16th century English queens are buried at this location show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Smart guys, good scores, some ultra-daring DD wagers.
I went with laurel, figuring it was too obvious though.
The FJ wagers made it obvious they were playing for wild cards. Mehal’s wager of $0 totally locked out Eamonn, and all but ensured him of a WC berth.
I don’t necessarily oppose the WC system, but it changes the whole tenor of the tournaments. The J! staff has said for decades that they don’t award 2nd and 3rd place finishers their actual totals because then they wouldn’t necessarily try to win. I know these tournament numbers aren’t actual cash, but there’s still that disincentive of wagering to win and it diminishes the importance of FJ sometimes.
Knew the Connecticut seaport and famous dancer Misha.
And we got a triple stumper since today’s final was also tough.
Semifinalists:
Joey DeSana: $24,000
Drew Goins: $23,400
Evan Dorey: $20,600
Will Yancey: $13,800
Wildcards:
Mehal Shah: $19,600
Jay Fisher: $15,400
Jen Feldman: $8,200
Paul Clauson: $8,000
=======================
Stevie Ruiz: $5,199
Eamonn Campbell $0 ($9,600)
Davey Morrison: $0 ($8,800)
Aiden Orzech: -$2,400
With that Mehal and Jay have clinched the first two wild card spots which means they are safe and are going to the semifinals. The scores to beat tomorrow are 8,200 and 8,000.