Final Jeopardy: Rivers (1-23-15)

The Final Jeopardy question (1/23/2015), in the category “Rivers” was:

This North Amer. river first sailed by Europeans in 1534 is named for a man who was martyred in Rome in the 3rd century.

Current champ Will Anderson survived what Alex Trebek called “one of the strangest games in a long, long time” when his tied contenders bet and lost everything in Final Jeopardy! yesterday. That brought his winnings up to a 2-day total of $23,199. Today his opponents are: Sarah Boulding, from Rockledge, FL; and  Brad Nehring, from Federal Way, WA.

Round 1: Brad found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “World Capitals” under the $800 clue. He was in third place with $2,000, $3,800 less than Will’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

Enjoy the Van Gogh Museum and the Stock Exchange founded in 1602 in this city… but don’t stop for any red lights. show

WHAT IS AMSTERDAM?

Will finished in the lead with $5,600. Brad was second with $3,800 and Sarah was last with $3,400. Upon returning from the commercials, he was awarded $1,200 for answering “ironside” to a “Ships Don’t Lie” clue*, so he went into the second round with $5,000.

*$600 – A portion of the CSS Georgia, one of these “metallic” Civil War ships, was recovered in 2013 from a Georgia river.

Round 2: Brad found the first Daily Double in “Features of Creatures” under the $1,600 clue. He was in the lead with $7,400, $3,000 more than Will in second place. He bet $1,500 and came up with a possum. That was WRONG.

This creature of the genus hippocampus has a prehensile tail & a brood pouch. show

WHAT IS SEAHORSE?

Brad found the last Daily Double in “The Kids Are Not All Right” under the $2,000 clue. He was now in the lead with $10,300, $4,900 more than Sarah in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.

“Veruca Salt, the little brute, has just gone down the garbage chute”, wrote this author. show

WHO IS ROALD DAHL?

Brad finished in the lead with $15,900. Will was next with $8,000 and Sarah was in third place with $7,000.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER?

“St. Lawrence has a Canadian connection! It happens that the early explorer, Jacques Cartier, found himself in a bay on August 10th, the day of Lawrence’s martyrdom. He named the bay the Bay of St. Lawrence, and the adjoining river the St. Lawrence river. The river became a symbol of the historical development of Canada, as the primary east-west waterway, and as a communication system uniting all of Canada, other than British Columbia…” (Saint Lawrence: an Archival Saint)

So if Cartier had landed in the bay on August 9th, the river might have been named St. Julian, or on August 11th, St. Philomena. Catholic Saints Feast Days in August.

Sarah got it and doubled her score to $14,000.

Will didn’t get it right and we have no idea what he wrote down. He lost his $7,901 bet and finished with $99.

Brad got it right and bet $101, so he won the game with $16,001. He is our new champ and we will be seeing him again on Monday.

Brad is a copywriter who was once a Peace Corps worker in Zambia, involved in an organic farming forestry program. One of his tasks was keeping the elephants away from the crops by mixing chili pepper powder with motor oil, producing a noxious odor that does the trick.

2 years ago:: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Musical Theatre”

Before this show hit Broadway in 1964, one of its working titles was “The Luckiest People”. show

WHAT IS “FUNNY GIRL”?

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