Final Jeopardy: U.S. States (5-1-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (5/1/2014), in the category “U.S. States” was:
Other than Q, these 2 letters appear the least in the names of states, each appearing only once.
8x champ Julia Collins is up to $170,610, and Alex Trebek acknowledged her standing as the only woman to ever win 8 games. Her opponents today are: Michelle Flaherty, from Natrona Heights, PA; and Marlon Morris, from Maywood, IL.
Round 1: Michelle found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Multiple Meanings” under the $1,000 clue. She was in the lead with $6,000, $3,400 more than Julia in second place. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
A long-billed game bird, or to shoot at something from a hidden position. show
Michelle finished in the lead with $8,000. Julia was second with $2,600 and Marlon was at negative $1,800.
Round 2: Julia found the first Daily Double in “19th Century France” under the $1,600 clue. She was now in the lead with $6,600, $200 more than Michelle in second place. She bet $1,500 and she was RIGHT.
In June 1830 French troops seized this North African capital from the Ottomans & Berbers. show
Julia found the last Daily Double in “Fictional Places” under the $2,000 clue. In second place with $10,100, she had $2,300 less than Michelle’s lead. She bet $3,500 and she was RIGHT.
The City of Casterbridge. show
Julia finished in the lead with $16,400. Michelle was right behind her with $14,000 and Marlon was in third place with $2,200.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
The two states are Arizona and New Jersey. Scrabble and Words with Friends players would immediately go to the high point letters, J, X and Z, and get Arizona right off the bat. Cryptogram experts know that J has a lower frequency than X, and that is also reflected in the letter point values in Words with Friends. Scrabble gives J and X the same value. You just had to remember Texas and New Mexico in enough time to write down J instead of X!
Marlon wrote down “F” and “K”. Besides Florida, there’s California. Kentucky has 2 “K’s” in it all by itself. He didn’t bet anything so he remained at $2,200.
Michelle forgot one of the “X” states and came up with “Z” and “X”. She lost her $9,599 bet, finishing with $4,401.
Julia got it right. Her $11,700 bet brought her up to today’s winning total of $28,100. Her 9-day total is $198,710. This also makes Julia the 9th highest money winner, right behind 7x winner Joon Pahk. He won $199,000.
Goodness, that was a tense game! Congrats to Julia on her 9th win and getting FJ! right. Michelle was quick on the buzzer and displayed that cool factor we have come to associate with Julia. In fact, this was the first game where Julia appeared a bit rattled more than once. We chalked that $100 error in her FJ! bet yesterday up to fatigue since she had no reason to be nervous. Today, Julia had her math right, but Michelle didn’t go all or get FJ! right. She played well all the same.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the Teen Tournament players got this FJ in “Medicine”
Though its name means “against life”, it’s any of a class of substances used to save a life. show
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You are the best Julia-do you do indexing? You sure are well rounded and smart too.
Did no one else catch what Marlon’s final jeopardy answer really was saying? My coworker and I were laughing our asses off! What is F and K! He had a horrible game, didn’t bet anything in Final Jeopardy and didn’t know the answer. I’m sure there was something behind that. Genius!
LOL. It never occurred to me because one person picked F and Z and someone else picked K and Z. The way I memorized the states years ago was by how many there are of each letter and I could see someone picking F, but K seemed like a ridiculous pick. You’ve got 3 Ks right in Kansas and Kentucky. Then you’ve got Alaska, the Dakotas, New York, Nebraska and Oklahoma!
oops, almost forgot Arkansas
Um ……….. the way he played, “genius” is hardly the applicable description.
Julia is great! She is bright and down to earth. What does she do for a living?
What about “B,” is it in another state, besides Alabama?
Never mind… I forgot about Nebraska. *SIGH*
Nebraska. I originally thought of y in only Wyoming, so I know how you feel.
Now: Kentucky and New York (maybe others) are surfacing, so I feel way worse.
Nebraska
Julia is a Wellesley and MIT grad. Interesting how she never mentions it in her interviews. I like that. Too many contestants tout their education background and fall flat on their faces making them look bad. Julia is clever by keeping this info under wraps. Always said if I went on J- would say I am a gardener as a hobby. Then if I lose I wouldn’t look foolish like some of the pompous contestants who have failed big time. I like Julia. She knows how to be humble and go in for the kill.
I can tell Julia is possibly losing a little steam after today’s game.. It was close today… hopefully she can hang in there for #10 tomorrow because then she’ll have a little time to rest.. Either from the hotel room in LA, or back home for a few days.. I know they film a week of shows on Tuesdays and a week of them on Wednesdays, so she’ll either have a night to rest if this week of games were filmed on a Tuesday, or she’ll have a week of rest back home if they were filmed on a Wednesday. I think someone at jboard figured out that more superchamps lose on Wednesday, Thurs or Fri than they do on Mon & Tues… They supposedly go to lunch between filming of Wed & Thurs shows so maybe Julia was tired from eating lunch or something.. Who knows?
I want her to win tomorrow, too, and some more after that! But I agree, it is looking like she’s winding down. Michelle had her on the ropes a few times today!
Yes, vj and it scared me. This was a tense show to watch.
It was indeed, jacobska. Well, when she does lose, I also hope it’s to someone who is as good a player as Michelle was. A fluke would be infinitely worse!
like the one from yesterday. fortunately she was right and john did not bet everything anyway, but imagine!! i guess it is a two edged sword: you gain experience and confidence as you play on but attrition is certainly a factor. plus, you have not won until alex rules so after fj, so a little slip in math ( i did this 100 times before..)and bingo! when you slip on a banana peel and break your neck you are as dead as when hit by a nuke…
that wager slip was a sign of attrition, i think?
This was a game that had me on pins and needles. Not ready to see Julia go yet. Nueve. Ice woman seemed a bit unnerved a few times. Her eyes looked a little tired at times. However, she came through. Congrats, Julia!
not to change the subject, but i remember the “antibiotic” clue. i wanted to SCREAM at the players….OLD GREEK!!!! (although anti/ante is also latin, one of the words used in both languages….)
there are even PROBIOTICS people have to eat for a while when they have been on a prolonged regimen of antibiotics or on especially nasty ones.
but good for julia! boy, i bet she is still shaking because of what could have been yesterday! i don’t think she was overconfident, just a slip in math. which shows that she is human after all!