Final Jeopardy: Opera (1-3-18)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (1/3/2018) in the category “Opera” was:

This character’s famed entrance aria actually introduces him as a handyman, repeats his name & adds “la-la-la-la-las”

New champ Saralee Etter won $8,000 yesterday, after an FJ clue Alex deemed “a killer.” In her second game, she takes on these new players: Michael Shockley, from Seattle, WA; and Steph Bundy, from Oak Park,, CA.

Round 1 Categories: Diets – The Zone – The Mediterranean – Dash – Paleolithic – Wait Watchers

We didn’t get to see the Daily Double in this round. It was either in “Mediterranean” or “Paleolithic” under an $800 or $1000 clue.

Steph finished in the lead with $5,800. Michael was second with $2,600 and Saralee was last with $600.

Round 2 Categories: Novels Within Novels – 2-Digit Numbers – State of the College – Chief Justices – The Business of Celebrity – “Salt”

Steph found the first Daily Double in “Novels within Novels” under the $800 clue on the 19th pick. She was in second place with $6,200 at this point, $1,200 behind Michael’s lead. She bet $2,500 and she was RIGHT.

She created fictional mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, author of “The Affair of the Second Goldfish” show

Steph found the last Daily Double in “Chief Justices” under the $800 clue, with 3 clues left after it. In the lead with $16,300 now, she had $6,900 more than Michael in second place. She bet $700 and she was RIGHT.

In 2017 Charlie Taney apologized to the family of this slave for the terrible decision made under this ancestor Roger. show

Steph finished in the lead with $18,200. Michael was next with $9,400 and Saralee was in third place with $600.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS FIGARO?

The first line in Figaro’s aria from Rossini’s 1816 opera, “The Barber of Seville” is “Largo al factotum della citta,” often translated as “Make way for the factotum of the city.” Some translations go with a synonym for factotum. Lyricstranslate.com has one that uses “handyman.” The Aria Database uses “topman.” See Songfacts for more factoids on the aria.

Acclaimed Russian baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, aka “The Elvis of Opera” is the artist in the video. He sadly passed away at age 55 on 11/22/2017 after a 2.5 year battle with brain cancer.



Saralee got it right. With a zero bet, she stayed at $600.

Michael thought it was Gepetto. He bet and lost it all.

Steph got it right, too. Her $601 bet brought her up to $18,801, today’s winning total, so Steph Bundy is the new Jeopardy! champ.

Final Jeopardy (1/3/2018) Saralee Etter, Steph Bundy, Michael Shockley

A triple stumper from each round:

DIETS ($600) Mark Bittman’s plan to lose weight & restore health is “VB6”: eat this 5-letter way before 6 pm

NOVELS WITHIN NOVELS ($2000) In this Michael Chabon novel that became a Michael Douglas film, Grady Tripp struggles to finish a novel

Also of note: 2 clues in the 2-DIGIT NUMBERS category:

($1200) My Ukrainian & French-Canadian roots are backed from a DNA report from this number andme.com: 29% Eastern European; 15% French & German – Michael got it but, wow… just wondering if Alex got his DNA tested and then suggested the clue himself.

($1600) Janis Joplin & Jimi Hendrix are members of this morbid numeric club, as they were both this age when they passed – The responses totally blew Alex’s mind, when they went down the line, 29, 28 and then Saralee decided to skip a digit and went with 26! Hilariously, he called that a “bad mistake.”

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Sitcoms”

When it premiered in 1974, this TV show used a 1955 No. 1 hit as its opening song. show

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8 Responses

  1. Marilyn says:

    Can anyone explain the very first clue? Category was “The Zone”: a telephone “code”, or in an onion headline, the local “man” who “nervously asks girlfriend if she’ll settle” I got the answer because of the telephone but I do not understand the onion headline part of it. Thanks.

    • VJ says:

      @Marilyn, The Onion used that particular phrase in a bunch of headlines — they have an Area Man tag — though the last article on it was from 2015

      • Marilyn says:

        Thanks, VJ. I used to love the Onion when it was in paper form, but neither my better half nor I remembered this.

        • VJ says:

          De nada, Marilyn, at least you got it from the telephone part of the clue. The Onion part could have just been left off, imo.

  2. Dalton Higbee says:

    College Championship Postponed until March?????

  3. VJ says:

    Wow, that was messed up that we didn’t get to see the first DD today, and kind of ironic that the ones in the second round were both under $800 clues.

    Sorry to see Saralee have a rough time of it today but at least she got second place, courtesy of Michael feeling the need to bet it all. Congrats to Steph. Maybe she’ll get a runaway tomorrow. She is certainly a force.

    LINK: 9 more clues from this match, with a link to a very cool version of Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum with original lyrics.

  4. Louis says:

    Figaro, reminds me of Minnie mouse s cat and geppettos cat in Pinocchio, VJ. Im sure your kids loved that movie because most operas have disney characters named after them. Also VJ, saralee could have bet big here even if she didn’t win right and do you have classical opera you like?