Final Jeopardy: Historical Nicknames (1-7-15)
The Final Jeopardy question (1/7/2015), in the category “Historical Nicknames” was:
In the Red Star in 1976, Capt. Yuri Gavrilov coined this nickname for a U.K. politician who had made a speech against the USSR.
3x champ Elliot Yates brought his winnings up to an even $50,000 yesterday. Today he’ll try for a 4th win against these two players: Nathan Tsoi, from Arlington, VA; and Rebecca Speas, originally from Greensboro, NC.
Round 1: Elliot found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The $1 Bill” under the $1,000 clue. He was in the lead with $5,000, $2,600 more than Rebecca in second place. He bet $2,000 and he blew one of them so he was WRONG.
On the front of each dollar are the signatures of the two people in these two similar-sounding jobs. show
Elliot finished in the lead with $4,400. Rebecca was second with $3,000 and Nathan was last with $2,600.
Round 2: Nathan found the first Daily Double in “Biology” under the $2,000 clue. He was now in third place with $1,800, $1,000 less than Elliot’s lead. He bet the $2,000 allowance and came up with a ballast. That was WRONG.
Though jellyfish are spineless, they form a hydrostatic one of these structures when they take in water. show
Elliot found the last Daily Double in “Lerner & Loewe Songs” under the $2,000 clue. In the lead with $3,200, he had $600 more than Rebecca in second place. He bet $2,600 and he was RIGHT.
“The Heather on the Hill” was one of the featured songs in this 1947 Lerner & Loewe musical. show
Elliot scored another runaway, finishing in the lead with $13,000. Rebecca was next with $5,400 and Nathan was in third place with $3,800.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“According to the original article, written by an army captain named Yuri Gavrilov, Thatcher’s ‘compatriots’ had coined and used the name. It’s still not totally clear weather [sic] this story was whole cloth fabrication….
[Robert] Evans, in his file that day from Moscow, wrote, ‘British Tory leader Margaret Thatcher was today dubbed ‘the Iron Lady’ by the Soviet Defense Ministry newspaper Red Star.’ The phrase immediately caught on in the British press, where Thatcher’s image of toughness and anti-Communism were still forming.” (The Washington Post)
Nathan wrote down “Doober Doober.” That got a big laugh but he lost his $3,700 bet and finished with $100.
Rebecca got it right and bet $4,600. She finished with $10,000.
Elliot also got it. His $2,000 bet made today’s winning total $15,000. His 4-day total is $65,000.
Elliot talked about his adventures in Dollywood as a lost fourth grader in today’s chat. They always introduce Elliot as from New York, NY, but his “Bloomberg” response to the clue “He took New York into the 21st century” in the New York Governors category gave it away that he’s not a native New Yorker, didn’t it? He’s originally from Mississippi. Oh, and there’s also an Atlanta Opera video on youtube from a couple of years that shows he goes by his middle name.
2 years ago:: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Capital Cities”
These 2 world capitals are separated by only 250 miles of land & less than 1 degree of latitude, at 59º 17′ & 59º 57′ N. show
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VJ, what was Nathan rambling about during the chat? I was in another room and couldn’t hear what he was saying.
He was rambling about his love of Belgian and Japanese avant garde fashion and how interesting it is when they express themselves from polyester to cashmere.
Then Alex asked him if he owned any of it and he said he had a favorite suit from Walter Van Beirendonck (by way of Antwerp) who did a collection based on rooms in his house so Nathan’s suit looks like Van B’s living room and yes, he wears it.
LOL
Fascinating…
LOL
Thanks, VJ!
P.S. After I checked out WVB’s suit collection, I wish Nathan had worn his suit to the J! show
Agree — that would have been cool.
VJ, I don’t want to turn your site into a political one but 2016 could turn into a hot mess for future Jeopardy contestants if 1) Jeb Bush runs for President, 2) Joe Biden runs for President, and 3) “Beau” Biden runs for Governor of Delaware.
And just think we all thought we had it down pat with John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Then along came George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Now around the corner is 2016. People criticize politicians but then the people can’t get their politicians straight, ie, the small percentage who actually go to the polls to vote.
I’m done. Sorry, vj, I couldn’t resist.
Don’t be sorry, it’s fine and you’re right. If that happens, future contestants will have to be even more specific. LOL.
Let me also say I don’t expect J! contestants to know the governors of states that they are not from. We already knew Elliot was not from NY if we remember his first chat segment… he said he was moving to NY at the time of the Kipper incident.
@vj, not nice to comment negatively on Elliot not recognizing photo of former NY Governor Pataki. I bet you that there are native NYers who would have made the same mistake. Being a native NYer myself when growing up there I met NYers who had never been to the Statue of Liberty or inside the Empire State Building. I found that weird as a teenager to hear native NYers say that who were up in age.
On another note imo from Elliott’s mannerable demeanor and Linkedin page it is obvious he is not a native NYer.
There is one thing that jumped out at me on his Linkedin page though. He has on there “Jeopardy: January 2014-present (1 year, 1 month).” Elliot if you read this post I think you mean 2015. 🙂
BTW, Elliot mentions his Mississippi background on LinkedIn. He moved around a lot which probably adds to his knowledge base. He is a likeable contestant and appears to be a nice and polite young man. I am a brash NYer and find his persona refreshing from a person in his age group.
Would love to to have seen Elliott on the game for many more games.
oh, I didn’t mean it in a negative way though. Look at what you said about FJ – all they had to do was put 1976 and UK together.
I think a native New Yorker could put turn of the 21st century and George Pataki together without a picture, not to mention that Bloomberg was a long-time NYC mayor not that long ago.
I am not a native New Yorker but I worked on the 13th floor of the Empire State Building once.
I have made the “2014 mistake” a few times myself. Usually get the hang of it by the end of February. 🙂
VJ, I guarantee you a lot of native NYers do not even vote, could care less about politicians and would not have remembered Pataki and would have inadvertently blurted out Bloomberg. Remember Jay Leno Show when he would show people on the street pictures of Abraham Lincoln, etc and they had no clue? You are giving my fellow NYers far too much credit. I have heard many ask how Bloomberg became a billionaire while watching Bloomberg TV News. Go figure. As people we don’t always pay attention to things right in front of us. It’s human nature.
PS – apropos the NY Governors, DeWitt Clinton was a presidential “also ran” (against James Madison).
I love that name DeWitt for a middle name though I don’t know anybody that has it.
I’m impressed with Elliot’s knowledge, but people who go on Jeopardy shouldn’t confuse governors with mayors.
@Tom, I agree. Did you hear about the election in Delaware where a few years ago when voters went to the polls to vote for the Attorney General? In the exit polls when told by the reporters they voted for Joe Biden’s son their reply was “I thought I was voting for Joe Biden.” At the time Joe Biden was a Senator and wasn’t even on the ballot. Why in the heck would a then Senator want to be an AG? Just think that Delaware is a tiny state and people didn’t know who the heck they were voting for even though on the ballot it read “Joseph Biden III.” What the …?
You had to hear about it. It was all over the national news.
People don’t pay attention.
Nicely worded Tom, thank you!
@jacob
i knew it…. the jinx!
@John, you are correct. There are always outliers in the game. Nathan was in the red a couple of times during the game. Lucky to make it to fj. All one had to do was put together 1976 and UK to solve the clue.
let me be cynical here: for that to happen you would have to know that
1. it happened decades ago and
2. it happened in a FOREIGN country. even though the brits are our closest ally and frientime and countries WERE in the clue but oh so often when it comes to matters outside the u.s. the brain freezes.
i would not be surprised if the clue were “The capital of france” and somebody would say “what is marseille?” you know, the marseillaise being the national anthem > marseille is the capital :):):)
but to turn things domestic: pull 100 people at random off the streets far enough from california and 10% would come up with sanfran or l.a. vice versa, go west and ask 100 people for the capital of new york and you get either a “is this a trick question”: or “am i on candid camera?”
sometimes the sheer MONSTROSITY what people who are on j DON’T know and what every 10 year old should and probably DOES know just baffles me.