Final Jeopardy: Novel Characters (12-2-20)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (12/2/2020) in the category “Novel Characters” was:
This character from an 1851 novel “was intent on an audacious, immitigable, and supernatural revenge”
Returning champ, TJ, an assistant professor of African history from San Diego, CA, has won $18,200. In Game 2, he takes on these 2 players: Leslie, a grant writer from Las Vegas, NV; and Michael, a college student from San Marino, CA.
Note: This is Nikki, VJ’s daughter, filling in for my Mom while she is in the hospital, in case you missed her message on the Jeopardy Calendar post. Due to my own time constraints, the recaps will be shorter than usual, but my Mom will work her magic when she returns.
Round 1 Categories: Early American History – City Words – Oval & Oval Again – Science Books – The Hip-Hop Era – Nonprofits
Leslie found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Nonprofits” under the $800 clue, with 6 clues left after it. She was in last place with $1,000, $3,000 less than Michael in first place. She bet $500, but could not come up with a response. She ran out of time and was WRONG.
“Service above sleep” is a motto of this service group so named for how its meetings originally moved around to different offices. show
Michael finished in the lead with $4,200. TJ was second with $2,800 and Leslie was last with $1,500. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: The 2020 Pulitzer Prizes – Crossword Clues “G” – Countries of the World – Taking Your Measure – Alliterative TV Shows – Non-Prophets
TJ found the first Daily Double in “Alliterative TV Shows” under the $800 clue on the 16th pick of the round. He was in second place with $8,800, $200 less than Michael. He bet $2,500 and he was RIGHT.
The Hatfields & the McCoys were appropriately armed for an appearance on this game show. show
TJ got the last Daily Double in “Taking Your Measure” under the $1,200 clue, with just 7 clues left after it. In first place now with $17,700, he had $8,700 more than Michael. He bet $7,300 and said joves. He was WRONG.
The unit abbreviated Mj is used to describe the heft of extrasolar planets & other astronomical bodies–M is for mass, J is for this. show
TJ finished in the lead with $14,000. Michael was next with $12,600 and Leslie was in third place with $4,700. No clues went uncovered.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS CAPTAIN AHAB?
Michael took a shot with Frankenstein. That cost him $10,000 and he finished with $2,600.
TJ wrote down the Count of Monte Cristo and that was wrong. He lost $12,000, leaving him with $2,000.
Leslie was going for Mr. something and that was wrong, she bet $2,000 and won the game with $2,700.
Some triple stumpers from round one:
THE HIP-HOP ERA ($800): With artists like Jay-Z & LL Cool J, “The Motown of Hip-Hop” is this record label co-founded by Rick Rubin
THE HIP-HOP ERA ($1,000): This Naughty by Nature classic with “Hip-Hop” in its title got new fans when Rita Wilson rapped along in a 2020 clip
Today’s show is dedicated to Alex Trebek. Forever in our Hearts, Always our Inspiration.
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She probably won’t win tomorrow, but she can always say: “I was a Jeopardy champion.”
I heard “1800s book about revenge” and immediately thought of the book title, took a few more seconds to come up with the captains name, but I got it. 🙂
Tough FJ as we got our first triple stumper in a while.
I do find it amazing that the obviously very bright contestants who appear on the show repeatedly make indefensible wagers, as others have pointed out. I suppose the typical contestant is more literary minded, say, than mathematically minded, but when tens of thousands of dollars are at stake with your FJ wager, it seems like it would be obvious to do a bit of research on wagering theory – there are multiple very good sources online.
This is especially true given that the contestants should be aware going into taping that they will be given as much time as they need to come up with their FJ wager, so they can’t say “I’m so bad at math that it wouldn’t even be worth it.” It’s almost entirely addition and subtraction with no time pressure.
Bingo, I cant believe how many otherwise intelligent people have no clue about statistical probability. Also how many wager everything in FJ.
For the 2nd time in a row that somebody wins $2,700, which is still the lowest 1-Day Win of this season, I have some gripes on the wagering. Here are the maximum appropriate wagers for everybody. TJ: $11,201 (The Lockout), Michael: $3,199, to stay above Leslie if she doubles up, or $9,800, if he wants to stay above TJ if everybody misses, and Leslie: $1,900, and guess what? All 3 players wagered too much. TJ, don’t wager more than you have to, in order to win the game, and Michael & Leslie, you don’t want to wager to put yourself in the risk of losing to the leader, if the leader goes for the lockout, and everybody misses. Oh, well. Let’s hope for way better things tomorrow.
Horrible wagering by all the players. and that 2700 dollar win from Leslie isn’t going to help her that much. Also, the quote Call me Ishmael should have lead the players into captain ahab from Moby Dick. Not tough of a final for me. TJ was close but count of monte cristo was 1844 and not 1851. And I thought these guys were avid readers but I was wrong.
Lou, the quote about Ishmael wasn’t in the clue; being seven years off about a book’s publication date when it’s from, approximately, 100 years before your birth isn’t a reach; and there’s the fact that “supernatural” revenge leads one to think of an unnatural creature like Frankenstein’s monster instead of the much more natural Ahab. All of these can lead them to different conclusions instead of the right answer, even if they are “avid readers” of fiction, which is an assumption more than a definite from an African history professor, a grant writer, and a college student.
I got to say that was horrible wagering by all three players and they bet too much and as a result Leslie becomes the new champion with just $2,700. Alex told her she ruined the average of $25,000 and will have to try to make for it on tomorrow’s program. I think I am familized with the $2,700 win from earlier this season and that is Kristin if I recall correctly.