Final Jeopardy: Famous Americans (7-5-16)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/5/2016) in the category “Famous Americans” was:
In 1902, 25 years after his death, a N.Y. Times article about a family reunion listed his direct descendants at more than 1,000.
New champ Liz Hedreen won $21,600 yesterday. In her first title defense, her challengers are: Julie Vazquez-Souza, from San Diego, CA; and TJ Bateman, from Charlottesville, VA.
Round 1 Categories: Hey Hey We’re The Maoris! – Women in Science- Talking Baseball – Potpourri, From Us to You – Politics – It’s All “Apple” Sauce
Liz found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Maoris” under the $800 clue, with 6 clues left after it. She was in a second place tie with Julie. They both had $1,400, $2,000 less than TJ’s lead. She bet it all and she was RIGHT.
The 2nd-largest Hawaiian isle shares its name with this Maori hero of myth who slowed down the sun for humans. show
TJ finished in the lead with $3,400. Liz was second with $3,000 and Julie was last with $1,400.
Round 2 Categories: Monuments & Memorials – “U” on the Map – Their Last Top 10 Pop Hit, So Far – Some Harsh Words for You – A Name in the Title – Battle of Britain
TJ found the first Daily Double in “Monuments & Memorials” under the $1,200 clue on the 8th pick of the round. In second place with $5,400, he had $2,800 less than Liz in the lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
“Soul in Flight”, a statue of a man serving a tennis ball, honors this late, great athlete. show
TJ landed on the last Daily Double in “Battle of Britain” under the $2,000 clue. There were only 2 clues to go after it. He was in second place with $14,800 now. Liz was leading with $1,400 more. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
The largest & bloodiest battle of this conflict was 1461’s Battle of Towton. show
TJ finished in the lead with $18,800. Liz was next with $16,200 and Julie was in third place with $6,600.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
The number of wives that Mormon leader Brigham Young actually had varies from source to source, but most agree that only sixteen of his wives bore him children. An article on the topic on UTML.org says: “Sixteen women gave birth to Brigham Young’s fifty-seven children; Emmeline Free had ten; six wives had only one child. The oldest child, Elizabeth Young Ellsworth, was fifty-two at Brigham’s death [August 29, 1877] and the youngest, Fannie Young Clayton, was seven….”
The NY Times article (6/22/1902) referred to in the clue compared the planned reunion to “a whole town full of people getting together for a public demonstration.”
Julie was trying for Abraham Lincoln (died in 1865). She bet and lost it all.
Liz had Andrew Jackson (died in 1845). She also lost the farm.
TJ’s response was hard to decipher. It started with “R” at any rate. He lost his $13,601 bet but had $5,199 left. That made him the new Jeopardy! champ.
Two triple stumpers:
HEY HEY WE’RE THE MAORIS! ($600) In this 2002 movie starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, a 12-year-old girl wants to be chief of her Maori tribute; granddad says no
A NAME IN THE TITLE ($1200) In a story of 19th century Wall Street, this title clerk famously replies, “I would prefer not to.”
An oops! moment from each round
IT’S ALL “APPLE” SAUCE ($400) Born in Massachusetts, he spread religion as well as fruit trees throughout the U.S. Midwest in the 19th century. TJ buzzed in, blurted out “Johnny Applesauce” and immediately winced. Julie picked it up.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN ($400) This invader’s army defeated Harold II on the Sussex coast in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. Julie forgot to phrase her correct response in the form of a question. TJ picked it up.
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Science Words”
Appropriately, this word from Latin for “unfold” isn’t in the first edition of “Origin of Species” but does appear in later editions. show
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FJ— ‘what fresh hell is this?’ Argh.
According to this list on wikipedia, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins had 18 more kids than Brigham Young. (That list credits Brigham Young with 57 kids).
After the FJ answer was revealed, Trebek said that Young had 26 wives and 47 children.
Andrew Johnson and Abe Lincoln were not bad guesses, but Brigham Young? For a guy like him having 20 or so wives and children that guy must have had a large family. I wonder what happened to them now or are any of them still around? this was a tough final I tell you. this is just like back in January where there were three contestants all ended up winning nothing and not coming up with the response for final jeopardy.
Yes Lou, Super Bowl winning QB Steve Young is a descendant. I am sure there are a great many more.
@VJ: Thanks!
@TR: I said 0/3 based on my opinion of how difficult it was. (I actually was thinking Crazy Horse, not even Brigham Young.) Still, the answers that these three gave for FJ were awful.
By the way, whoever mentioned Johnny Appleseed in the CotD talk this morning (Eric?)… humorous that one of the answers on Jeopardy was Johnny Appleseed (though TJ said Johnny Applesauce. Lol.)
MW, apparently my humor exceeds my wit. Thanks for reading.
OK Mathwiz, I gotta ask: why the 0/3 prediction (well done btw)? When I saw the clue this afternoon the implications seemed obvious; I thought it was a slam dunk.
I thought before the game that Liz would get it. During the game, I thought both Liz and TJ but when the camera panned across them during the think music, I could see that MathWiz was right.
Congrats to MathWiz100 on the spot-on FJ prediction. I’ve got 10 clues from the match over here now.
Also, Abraham Lincoln had 4 children. His last direct descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died Dec. 24, 1985, without fathering children.
Far as I know, Andrew Jackson was an orphan himself and had no biological children. He adopted two children, though some places say only one and leave out Lyncoya
Also, anyone who thinks of him/herself as Jeopardy caliber should know that Lincoln died in 1865. If they knew that, then they should also be able to subtract 25 from 1902 and not come up with 1865.
But this was, finally, a truly difficult FJ. I’d never have thought of it, because I decided a long time ago to think about Mormons as little as possible.
Thanks VJ, though I was wrong about only 2 people going to FJ. (And actually, the 3rd place Julie had a better chance than expected.)
Perhaps Liz meant “Andrew Johnson”… he had 5 children, and died in 1875, so it’s a more believable answer.
Reverdy Johnson would have been better. He died in 1876 and had 15 children. One of them lived to be 111.
Unfortunately, a textbook example of a time when the player in second should not have bet everything. With a wager of 2601, she could have won with a miss by the leader. With a wager of 2999, she could have locked out Julie. Too bad, but at least she can say that she won on Jeopardy!