Final Jeopardy: African Flags (12-26-14)

The Final Jeopardy question (12/26/2014), in the category “African Flags” was:

The flag of Burundi has stars representing the Twa & these 2 other ethnic groups much in the news in the 1990s.

2-day champ Brian Hamilton has won $45,202 so far. He’s going for that elusive third win against these opponents today: Vaughn Winchell, from Columbia, MD; and Amy Williamson, from Hickory, NC.

Round 1: Amy found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Foiled” under the $800 clue. She was in third place with $3,200, $2,000 less than Brian’s lead. She bet $2,400 but did not have a guess so she was WRONG.

This Chicago detective foiled a plot to kill President-elect Lincoln. show

WHO IS ALLAN PINKERTON?

Brian finished in the lead with $6,400. Vaughn was second with $5,000 and Amy was last with $2,400.

Round 2: Brian found the first Daily Double in “How It Works” under the $2,000 clue. He was in third place with $5,600 when he found it but was awarded $2,400 for a prior answer*. He now had $8,000 but was still in third place with $6,600 less than Vaughn’s lead. He bet $6,000 and thought it was parallax. That was WRONG.

Glasses work by adjusting this optical process, also the name of the test that determines your prescription. show

WHAT IS REFRACTION?

*In “There’s a J in There Somewhere”, they showed a dojo (the answer they were looking for), and Brian said a judo studio. That was called wrong and Amy gave the dojo response.

Vaughn found the last Daily Double in “Legion of Honor Recipients” under the $800 clue. In the lead with a runaway $17,400, he had $9,000 more than Amy in second place. He bet $400 and he was RIGHT.

In July of 1906 this man was formally reinstated in the French Army & decorated with the Legion of Honor. show

WHO IS ALFRED DREYFUS?

Vaughn had the game in the bag with $19,000. Amy was next with $7,600 and Brian was in third place with $2,800.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO ARE THE HUTU AND THE TUTSI?

“Once, Hutus and Tutsis lived in harmony in Central Africa…. Even in the colonial era — when Belgium ruled the area, after taking it from Germany in 1916 — the two groups lived as one, speaking the same language, intermarrying, and obeying a nearly godlike Tutsi king.

“Independence changed everything. The monarchy was dissolved and Belgian troops withdrawn — a power vacuum both Tutsis and Hutus fought to fill. Two new countries emerged in 1962 — Rwanda, dominated by the Hutus, and Burundi by the Tutsis — and the ethnic fighting flared on and off in the following decades. It exploded in 1994…” (CNN: Hutu-Tutsi Conflict)

Brian added $2,799 to finished with $5,599.

Amy bet $1,999 and finished with $9,599.

Vaughn racked up another $3,500 with his FJ bet and won the game with $22,500. So he will be the returning champ on Monday.

Vaughn Winchell is a stay-at-home dad who gives bar mitzvah lessons. During the chat he talked about how unique he thought his conversion was since he had once been an altar boy — until he met a fellow convert who was once a nun!

2 years ago:: ONE of the two players left got this FJ in “American Authors”

In 1886 he wrote, “My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water”. show

WHO IS MARK TWAIN?

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