Final Jeopardy: British Royalty (3-6-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/6/2025) in the category “British Royalty” was:
In the 12th C. after walking barefoot, this man stripped down & allowed himself to be flogged by dozens of monks
It’s Game #2 in the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament finals, featuring: Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, NY; Roger Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, VA; and Juveria Zaheer, a psychiatrist from Whitby, Ontario.
It’s first to win 2 games in this Tournament. Matt Amodio won the first game so we’re about to find out if the Tournament will end today or continue tomorrow.
Round 1 Categories: Speech! – 2024 Wordles, Defined – Canadiana – Also a Boat – Women in Sports – What’s for Lunch?
Roger found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “2024 Wordles, Defined” under the $1,000 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in last place with $600, $1,800 less than Juveria’s lead. Roger bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
Part of the NATO phonetic alphabet: _ _ _ V _ show
Matt finished in the lead with $5,200. Juveria was second with $4,600 and Roger was last with $3,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: The Name of the Play – College Seals – The Magma Movement – Hip-Hop & Religion – 5-Letter Geography – Adverbs
Juveria found the first Daily Double in “5-Letter Geography” under the $1,600 clue on the 7th pick of the round. She was in second place with $7,800, $3,000 less than Matt’s lead. Juveria bet it all and she was RIGHT.
Site of an art show with outposts in Hong Kong & Miami Beach, this city sits near where France, Germany & Switzerland meet show
Roger found the last Daily Double in “College Seals” under the $1,600 clue on the 12th pick of the round. He was in last place with $1,000, $13,000 less than Juveria’s lead. Roger bet the $2,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
From 1783 to 1929, this university in Virginia used what’s called the Jeffersonian Seal, which depicts Greek revival architecture show
Juveria finished in the lead with $16,000. Matt was second with $13,600 and Roger was last with $9,400. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS HENRY II?
Thomas Becket and Henry II of England were once close friends, but things soured after Henry appointed Becket Archbishop of Canterbury. The king couldn’t control Becket as he had intended. Despite the intervention of Pope Alexander III, Becket continued to anger the king who wondered aloud if anyone would rid him “of this turbulent priest.” Four of Henry’s knights took that to heart and murdered Becket on 12/29/1170.
Becket was perceived as a martyr. Pilgrimages were made to his tomb and he was canonized as St. Thomas of Canterbury by Pope Alexander on 2/21/1173. Henry II’s situation, meanwhile, was worse than ever as his court and family turned on him. Henry believed it was divine retribution for Becket’s murder. He sought God’s forgiveness by doing public penance at Becket’s tomb. 12th century chronicler William of Newburgh, wrote that Henry “was flogged, first five strokes of the whip from each of the prelates present, and then three lashes from each of the 80 monks.” Henry II’s fortunes changed for the better after that.
Roger decided on Richard I, crossing out Edward and Henry. He lost $4,201 and finished with $5,199.
Matt also went with Richard I. That only cost him $2,901 and left him with $11,199.
Juveria made it a trifecta with Richard the Lionheart, who was Richard I. She lost $11,200 and finished with $4,799. Lordy! What a shock! Matt Amodio won his second game from second place. He is the 2025 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament champion and he advances to the Jeopardy! Masters, coming to primetime soon.
Money, money, money: Matt won $150K, Roger and Juveria won $50K each.
2 triple stumpers from THE MAGMA MOVEMENT:
($1200) The stuff is sloshing around in the Socorro Magma Basin below a rift bisecting New Mexico & bearing the name of this river
($1600) 4 billion years ago the Earth was a hellscape of magma oceans; from the Greek hell, it has the near-rhyming name this “eon”
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “LANDMARKS”
After its completion in the late 19th c., it was called a “truly tragic street lamp” & a “high & skinny pyramid of iron ladders” show
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First, I missed FJ. I said “Richard III”, because I know nil of English early history. My wife, just as the competitors, said Richard I.
The 5 letter Pacific nation was a very bad clue, because the name under which it became independent in 1962 was different. In any case, I said “Tonga”.
The fate! The whole show could be turned around would yesterday’s and today’s finals were switched – then Juveria could have emerged as a winner in both.
Regular games return; what a concept! I follow “Jeopardy!” on Facebook, and they post that day’s FJ clue every weeknight at 8. And every single night I see complaints from people tired of the overabundance of tournaments and the desire to return to regular contests.
Although the DDs and FJ torched me tonight, I thought the other clues were slightly easier than other recent ones. Thought one of them might know the cooked clams and the 5-letter island nation.
Juveria gave it her all. Hoped she’d win and extend this one more day. Although she had the lead after DJ, half her total was from the DD. Matt was clearly the best player today.
Oh, I get it now. Richard I was chosen because he was a 12th century King. Still, he was a warrior mostly associated with the Crusades. I can’t see him voluntarily submitting to a monk flogging
Memorizing the English Monarchs by century
P.S. I forgot to mention that Julia Collins, now Roger’s wife, is in the J! video on that English Monarchs post. She is the one who got the clue right. I wonder if she knew this one!
Juveria was decisively in the lead after DJ, but her big wager in FJ handed the championship to Matt. Curiously, Matt didn’t bet much in FJ, and that was what saved him. As for me, I went with Richard I also.
Like the last FJ! of Season 1 of “Jeopardy! Masters”, where Mattea Roach was 1 clue away from beating James Holzhauer, if today’s FJ! clue was different, Juveria Zaheer would have beaten Matt Amodio. Instead, Matt scored his 1st tournament win, as I feared, and it hurts me to say this, but Juveria came up 4 correct responses short of joining “The 300 Club”, contestants who gave more than 300 correct responses. If we see Juveria on the show again, she’ll definitely make it there. Today is not that day.
For the record, Richard I (the Lionheart) was the oldest son of Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
I didn’t think this FJ! was hard. I thought they would all get it. Just guessing, but maybe they needed either ‘penance’ or ‘murder’ in the clue to make the connection.
Yeah, VJ, I thought they would all get it, too. Especially because my immediate guess this morning when I saw CotD was Richard I, but then I immediately realized, no, it was his dad doing penance for the infamous murder in the cathedral.
And we end the tournament with a triple stumper as today’s final was super tough.
Who else is in masters?? Victoria, Yogesh and James for sure…
This years toc champ I assume gets a spot. I feel like Roger could hang with the masters
The last time all three players wrote down the same incorrect response was 1/16/25 if I’m right. Congrats to Matt Amodio, this is his first Jeopardy tournament win. He just won a return trip to the Masters this spring. Matt also competed in Jeopardy Masters in the first two seasons. That’s it for tournaments this season and what that means is that regular games are back tomorrow.