Final Jeopardy: World Leaders (9-30-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/30/2014), in the category “World Leaders” was:
He came to power 34 days before FDR & left it 19 days after him.
New champ Elisa Korb won $26,400 yesterday when she defeated two co-champions. Today she takes on these two players: Silvia Lesko, from Denton, TX; and Alex Champlin, from Toronto, ON, CA.
Round 1: Silvia found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “What a Fossil” under the $600 clue. She was in second place with $3,600, $1,000 less than Alex in second place. She bet $600 and she was RIGHT.
Of the 3 types of rock, it’s the one in which you’ll mainly find fossils. show
Alex finished in the lead with $5,400. Silvia was second with $4,400 and Elisa was last with $400.
Round 2: Alex found the first Daily Double in “Lighthouses” under the $1,200 clue. He was in the lead with $15,400, with a runaway $7,800 more than Elisa in second place. There were 4 clues left on the board and one was the last still uncovered DD. He decided to be boring and bet $5.00 and he was RIGHT.
First lit in 1792, Virginia’s old Cape Henry Lighthouse on this bay was the first authorized by the Federal Government. show
Alex shook his head laughingly at his own folly, then inexplicably chose the next clue in the same round! Elisa answered that clue and broke the runaway with a correct response. She also got the $2,000 clue in the same category right and we never got to see the last Daily Double.
Alex finished in the lead with $15,405. Elisa was next with $11,200 and Silvia was in third place with $6,800.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“The two men never met — though their lives uncannily paralleled one another’s and at last fatefully intersected in the gargantuan conflict of World War II. Roosevelt, born in 1882, and Hitler, born in 1889, were men of the same generation. Eerily, as if conforming to the plot of a Gothic novel, they died with days of one another -— Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Hitler just eighteen days later. Each in his respective country came to supreme power within the span of a few weeks. Hitler was installed as Germany’s chancellor on January 30, 1933; Roosevelt was inaugurated as president of the United States just thirty-five days later, on March 4. Both headed advanced industrial states deeply afflicted by the Depression. Both had achieved office by means of democratic elections, though democracy soon withered under one’s hand and flourished under that of the other.” (FDR and Hitler: A Study in Contrasts)
Silvia thought it was Stalin. She lost her $5,800 bet and finished with $1,000.
Elisa came up with Harry Truman. She only lost $500 so she finished with $10,700.
Alex wrote down Winston Churchill. This is where being boring would have been most helpful to Alex, but he evidently decided to be exciting and wagered $7,000. He ended up with $8,405.
So a very surprised Elisa remained the champ with a 2-day total of $37,100.
2 years ago:: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Familiar Phrases”
OED’s earliest citation of this 5-word phrase is “Now, Monsieur Poirot, you would without doubt like to visit” this place show
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Question was poorly presented. Hitler didn’t “leave” office he committed suicide in office
Agree. They could have said “left the world”
The Final Jeopardy “answer” itself was wrong! Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. Roosevelt succeeded Hoover as president on March 4, 1933– i.e., 33 days after Herr Hitler had become the German Chancellor, not 34 days after. Likewise, FDR died of a stroke on April 12, 1945, while Hitler and his wife committed suicide on April 30, 1945– 18 days later, not 19 days later. Shame on the “Jeopardy!” clue crew! (The explanatory excerpt, quoted above, gets the second historical gap right, citing 18 days rather than 19, but then loses it at the other end, claiming that March 4, 1933, was 35 days after January 30, 1933!?! Sigh….)
Yeah, you are right, they are including the actual day each event occurred in the clue. As for the excerpt, I did notice that discrepancy with the 35 days, but had to quote it as written. I liked the comparison, esp the last sentence.
The Truman answer was so stupid and demonstrated such a lack of understanding about history, the USA, and the way the system works, it should have disqualified her from winning. In fact, it should have disqualified her from showing her face in public.
Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she was thinking of Truman’s vice presidency, but that’s still incredibly stupid.
1) Vice presidents don’t “come to power.”
2) Truman wasn’t FDR’s vice president until 1945.
3) Even if he had been the V.P. all along, why would he “come to power” 34 days before FDR?
4) Why would he stop being V.P. and become president 19 days after FDR’s death, instead of immediately?
It was so stupid on so many levels that I can’t look at her tomorrow so I won’t watch it. If she sees this and it hurts her feelings, she deserves it, because her answer made me sick.
Elisa or Alex should have gone to Shaw to find the second DD in one of the two remaining boxes.
well done??? i beg to differ. to think that truman served 19 days??? she lucked out and had NO clue whatsoever today. american history 101: how long was truman potus???
the problem was they didn’t know bupkis about GBS. The only clue they got of the other three was the obvious pre-call
$400 – About this title character, the executioner says, “Her heart would not burn, my lord.” (Alex wrongly said Mary Queen of Scots)
$600 “Heartbreak House” is set in the Sussex home of Captain Shotover on the eve of this war” (no guesses)
$1200 This flower girl tells Henry Higgins “Every girl has a right to be loved” (Elisa got it)
elisa got eliza…..:)
well, alex had to wager 6.996 in order to win, should elisa go all in. and as i said in CotD vj, stranger things have happened, so much for a triple solve!!
truman leaving office 19 days after fdr? YGBKM!!!! that was the most stupid answers of the 3. stalin and especially churchill i can somehow understand, sir winston was after all booted (voted) out of office right after the war in 1945 and replaced by attlee, but TRUMAN??? elisa’s history teacher must be really proud of her, that is AMERICAN history, fdr and truman!! where do they find those people?? sorry to be so critical, but i considered that fj a no-brainer.
Good thing Elisa didn’t bet it all!