Final Jeopardy: World Capitals (1-27-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/27/2025) in the category “World Capitals” was:
Home to more than 400,000, it’s the only world capital in the “Roaring Forties” latitudes?
It’s QF #1 of the 2025 Tournament of Champions. Up first: 5x champ Alison Betts, a writer & creative exec. orig. from San Jose, CA; 4x champ Will Wallace, a game design director from Austin, TX; and 3x champ Rishabh Wuppalapati, a Univ. of Pennsylvania student from Vernon Hills, IL.
Round 1 Categories: Lakes of America – Game Time – Special Days – “Ch” as in Champ – Broken – Hell’s Kitchen, the Musical
Alison found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Lakes of America” under the $800 clue on the 1st pick of the round. Nobody was on the board. Alison bet $1,000 and thought it was the Adirondacks. That was WRONG.
Northwest of Allentown, Beltzville Lake is a popular fishing spot in this mountain range show
Will finished in the lead with $3,800. Alison and Rishabh were tied in second with $2,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Putting the Culture in Agriculture – A Weak Response – Literary Characters – It’s Got a Motor – That Happened – Celebrity Memoirs
Will found the first Daily Double in “That Happened” under the $1,200 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $6,600, $4,400 more than Alison in second place. Will bet $2,600 and he was RIGHT.
Anytus, Meletus & Lycvon were the 3 prosecutors in the trial of this man in 399 B.C. show
Rishabh found the last Daily Double in “Literary Characters” under the $1,600 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in last place with $1,800, $7,400 less than Will’s lead. Rishabh bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Shimerda is the last name of the heroine of this Willa Cather novel show
Will finished in the lead with $15,200. Alison was second with $9,800 and Rishabh was last with $5,800. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS WELLINGTON?
According to Surfer Today, “the Roaring Forties are extremely powerful westerly winds that blow in the Southern Hemisphere between latitudes 40° and 50°.” The winds are so strong because very few land masses interrupt them. The Roaring Forties “strong prevailing winds blow continuously all year round… and can produce gusts of up to 125 mph (200 km/h). An old sailor’s saying tells us, ‘Below 40 degrees south, there is no law; below 50 degrees, there is no God.'”
With a latitude of 41° 17′ South, New Zealand’s capital Wellington is the only world capital located in the Roaring Forties. One of the city’s nicknames is “Windy Welly”. Wellington and Canberra, Australia are the southernmost world capitals. Both have populations greater than 400,000 but less than 500,000. Canberra’s latitude, however, is 35° 17’ South.
Rishabh went with Reykjavík. He bet and lost his whole $5,800.
Alison came up with Washington, D.C. That cost her $5,401 and left her with $4,399.
Will thought it might be Reykjavík, too. He lost $4,401 but won the game with $10,799. Will Wallace is our first semifinalist.
A triple stumper from each round:
PUTTING THE CULTURE IN AGRICULTURE ($1600) She painted 20th century agricultural scenes like “Moving Day on the Farm”
($2000) Bathsheba Everdene owns a farm & Gabriel Oak is a shepherd in this Thomas Hardy novel 1st published in The Cornhill Magazine
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “WORD ORIGINS”
Originally relating to a story of suffering, this word now more commonly refers to strong emotion of any kind show
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I didn’t mention this yesterday out of adherence for this site’s rules. Anyways, regarding the ‘It’s Got A Motor Category’, a clicking sound does not necessarily indicate a defective starter motor. In my experience, a clicking sound would usually result in either a defective starter solenoid or a battery that had lost its charge. For one, a starter solenoid contains electrical contactors which energize the series wound starter motor. In many cases, those contactors become carbonized over time, and hence won’t deliver sufficient voltage to that high torque starter motor. In fact, I have only run across defective starter motors in about 20% of the cases, and I have changed many car starters through the years.
Tough final, I chose Washington. 2/3 on DDs, middle one tripped me up. First one wasn’t so tough, thought Alison would get it. Was good to see her again, she’s a real charmer. After her first appearance, she posted on FB that she’d just been laid off from her job at a movie studio as her televised run began.
Knew the “Moving Day” female painter, the Queens sporting event (I was raised near there), and the Tina Fey book.
Are wild cards not a thing in this ToC?
Nope, Howard. 6 winners from the QF matches. Then Adriana Harneyer, Isaac Hirsch and Drew Basile are the other 3 for the SF matches. Then 3 final matches.
Thanks for the confirmation. I saw on the J! site that the final is first to win 3 matches, so that could be as many as seven games.
It was another fantastic game, and I performed about average. During the first round, the ‘Lakes of America’ category was a bummer, and the last category was no better. Even worse, a tough FJ to boot. Well, I first thought of Washington D.C., and then went with Moscow during the closing seconds.. Yeah, I was aware that there were some several million residents in Moscow, but I wasn’t going to score a run anyways.
Fun Fact: The last time Will Wallace was on, he lost on a Monday. Today, he wins on a Monday. At least, he redeemed himself on that specific day of the week.
The week begins with a triple stumper since today’s final was tough due to a pesky geography clue.