Final Jeopardy: Space Exploration (11-18-15)

The Final Jeopardy question (11/18/2015) in the category “Space Exploration” was:

The first man to travel into space began his journey on that fateful day in what is today this country.

The last semi-final match of the 2015 Tournament of Champion is about to begin. The players are: quarter-finalists Matt Jackson and Catherine Hardee, and Wild Card winner, Andrew Haringer.

Round 1: Andrew found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Food & Drink” under the $1,000 clue on the third pick of the round. He was in the lead with $800, $200 more than Catherine in second place. Andrew said he would bet it all, but then corrected himself to bet the whole $1,000 allowance. He thought it was Shiraz but that was WRONG.

Win Spectator Magazine named as its top wine of 2014 Dow’s 2011 vintage from the Douro Valley in Europe. show

Catherine finished in the lead with $6,000. Matt was second with $5,600 and Andrew was last with $3,200.

Round 2: Catherine found the first Daily Double in “World Cities” under the $2,000 clue. She was in a tie with Matt for the lead. They both had $10,000, $4,000 more than Andrew. She bet $4,000 and thought it was Cologne. That was WRONG and now she was tied with Andrew.

In 1907 a 500,000-year-old “man” was found near & named for this Southwest Germany city. show

Two clues later, Matt found the last Daily Double in “Show Tunes” under the $2,000 clue and let out a big “YES!” He now had the lead all to himself with $12,000, twice as much as Andrew and Catherine. He bet $8,000 and he was RIGHT so he let out an even bigger “YES!!”

Act I of “Wicked” ends with this high-flying song. show

Matt finished in the lead with $28,400. Andrew was next with $10,400 and Catherine was in third place with $6,400.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS KAZAKHSTAN?

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space when he “was fired from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, Soviet central Asia, in the space craft Vostok (East). Major Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes travelling at more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 kilometres per hour) before landing at an undisclosed location. (BBC News: April 12)

At that time, Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, which was formally dissolved on Dec. 26, 1991. Take this Sporcle quiz to see if you can name the other countries that formed the Soviet Union



Catherine got it right. She bet nothing so she remained at $6,400.

Andrew thought it was the Ukraine. He lost his $2,401 bet and finished with $7,999.

Matt also got it right. He mouthed the word “Boom” during the think music to let us all know. He also bet nothing but with $28,400, he didn’t have to.

So we had two runaway games in the semi-finals. For the next two days, we will be watching these finalists vie for the $250,000 prize.

$28,400 Matt Jackson
$26,400 Alex Jacob
$12,800 Kerry Greene

FJ Results: 11-18-15

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Novel Titles”

These are not found in the Koran, & the Angel Gabriel told Muhammad that they were not revealed by God. show

We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.

Share

You may also like...

24 Responses

  1. jacob ska says:

    @vj, did you notice the triple stumper on Ethel Kennedy’s photo? That was clearly a generation gap imo. Remember all of the kids her and Robert Kennedy had? The Kennedy clan was quite prominent during our era.

    • VJ says:

      yes, true about the generation gap, but I was still surprised Matt didn’t know being from D.C., his parents involved in government and working in a law firm.

      I learned a lot of stuff working in law firms. When I was around his age, I had to work on the Lawyers for McGovern campaign. LOL.

  2. Berob says:

    Would be great if Kerry were the spoiler! Especially in the first round as Matt and Alex go after each other! But probably not. I’m thinking Alex will win in the end!

  3. JEOPARDY says:

    fj is harder than it seems.

    gonna guess one of them will get it. Hasn’t aired here.

  4. VJ says:

    Well, I was quite conflicted but then I thought about it….

    Alex wrote “what is Aleve”
    Matt recommended FF on Facebook

    But more importantly, Matt knew the Song of Roland in his QF match. So I’ll be rooting for Matt in the finals.

    (sorry, Richard)

    • jacob ska says:

      @vj, I still cannot believe today’s clue was a fj. Too easy.

      • VJ says:

        well now we can look forward to some challenging ones for the next two games, we hope.

        And I also hope that Kerry gets ALL the DDs. I can do without the theatrics, fellas. 🙂

      • jacob ska says:

        Today’s fj was a $400 clue in the Kazakhstan category April 1, 2015 when Kerry Greene toppled Michael Bilow. Shame on you clue writers.

        • VJ says:

          Yeah, cluewriters. Boo, hiss.

        • Luke says:

          Regardless of how easy you think FJ was, it’s disingenuous to say those two clues are the same.

          “Who was the 28th president of the United States?”
          “Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of what country?”

          These questions concern the same information, but they are very different questions, and one is much, much easier.

    • Richard Corliss says:

      VJ Alex Jacob is going to win on friday.

      • VJ says:

        I don’t disagree with that, Richard.

        As was his usual style during his run, Matt didn’t make much of an effort to dominate the first round today. If he does that in the finals against Alex, it could very well be his Waterloo.

    • Cece says:

      @VJ, Aw, too late for you to get on Matt’s corner, sister! Alex is gonna whoop his arse in the finals. Sure I’d like either him or Kerry to win, but no one can beat that toilet paper-holder dexterity. :):)

      And Matt will not dominate the first round, but it will be because Alex won’t let him.

  5. Richard Corliss says:

    I think Alex is going to win.

  6. jacob ska says:

    This is going to be an interesting TOC final game tomorrow and Friday.

  7. Richard Corliss says:

    THAT TEARS IT MATT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU’RE GOING DOWN ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Leena says:

      Is he? Hope not. Why don’t you like Matt though?

      • Richard Corliss says:

        ‘CAUSE HE KEEPS KILLING EVERY CONTESTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        • Leena says:

          Well, to be honest, Alex was the former (that gained his publicity during a shorter period of time).

        • jacob ska says:

          Ever thought Kerry might be a spoiler and win it all? Alex and Matt will be shooting it out against each other like they’re at OK Corral possibly nullifying each other. We’ll see. Just a thought.