Final Jeopardy: Countries of the World (10-11-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (10/11/2021) in the category “Countries of the World” was:
Nazi Germany annexed this nation & divided it into regions of the Alps & the Danube; the Allies later divided it into 4 sectors
38x champ Matt Amodio, a PhD student from New Haven, CT won $1,518,601 so far. In Game 39, he takes on these two players: Jessica Stephens, a statistical research specialist from Nashville, TN; and Jonathan Fisher, an actor orig. from Coral Gables, FL.
An Alex Trebek moment: “The J’s have arrived.” Everytime I see two players’ names start with the same letter, I can’t help but think of how Alex used to say that.
Round 1 Categories: City Nicknames – Potpourri – This One Goes to 2011 – Sporty Anagrams – Biographies – The Ickiest of the “Icky”
Jonathan got the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “This One Goes to 2011” under the $600 clue, with just 11 clues left after it. In third place with $1,600, he had $5,800 less than Matt’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
With a landing in July 2011, the 135-mission program using these came to an end. show
Matt finished in the lead with $9,800. Jonathan was second with $4,000 and Jessica was last with $2,400. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: George Washington Did It – Med. Abbrev. – National Literary Titles – It Doesn’t Mean What It Sounds Like – Talk Like a Farmer – Recent Movies
Jonathan landed on the first Daily Double in “George Washington Did It” under the $1,200 clue, with just 8 clues left after it. He was in second place with $12,800, $800 less than Jessica in first place. He bet $2,000 and took a shot at it with “mayor.” That was WRONG.
A 1791 proclamation by President George ordered the first this of the District of Columbia; a young George would’ve done it himself. show
On the very next pick, Jonathan got the last Daily Double in “National Literary Titles” under the $800 clue. Still in second place with $10,800, he had $2,800 less than Jessica’s lead. Jonathan bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
In this Michael Ondaatje novel, a badly burned plane crash victim remembers a fateful love affair. show
Jonathan finished in the lead with $14,600. Jessica was second with $14,400 and Matt was last with $10,600. No clues went uncovered.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
From the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website: “On March 11–13, 1938, German troops invade Austria and incorporate Austria into the German Reich in what is known as the Anschluss.” Austrians were generally in favor of this; remember that Adolf Hitler was an Austrian. Persecution of Jewish persons swiftly followed in Vienna and other cities throughout 1938, culminating in the November Kristallnacht riots.
After Anschluss, Austria was considered a constituent part of Nazi Germany. In 1943 under the Declaration of Moscow, the Allies chose to treat Austria as Germany’s first victim. They agreed to treat Austria as a liberated and independent country after the war. The entire country was divided into 4 occupation zones, occupied by the USA, the UK, France and the Soviet Union. Likewise, Vienna was split into sector but administered by the Allied Control Council. Read more on Wikipedia: Allied-Occupied Austria.
Matt scribbled something out and went with Poland. That cost him $5,000 and left him with $5,600.
Jessica got it right. She bet $14,399 and finished with $28,799.
Jonathan bet it all and won the game with $29,200. Jonathan Fisher is the new Jeopardy! champ and the latest giant killer.
A triple stumper from each round:
POTPOURRI ($600) A flock of geese in flight can be called a skein or wedge; the same group on the ground or in the water is this
IT DOESN’T MEAN WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE ($1200) Noisome sounds like it offends the ears, but it means something offensive especially to this other sense organ
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Observances”
Washington made the very first Presidential Proclamation in response to a request for “a day of public” this show
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Those suggesting a dive…..MUST OFFER UP A REASON, WHY? I believe some of his wins, were fishier than his loss. Odd that a grad student, should have such an encylcopedic breadth of knowledge. So much more so………then any other jeopardy contestant.
Congrats to Matt, I can go back to watching now that an element of drama will return
When Jonathan had $29,200 as her total, in the audience, I heard a couple of people cheering for him as well.
My wish was that Matt would have made it to November 8th when Ken Jennings took over. But not to be. I see that I am not the only one that noticed that Matt had trouble with his signaling device during DJ. He simply was able to ring in. Plus he responded incorrectly a number of times.. Jonathan moves forward as the GIANT KILLER. But we can say also that Jessica was also a Giant Killer as well with her high score despite her coming in 2nd place. She did great. So now he have 5 people in the next ToC. What we need now is 10 more 5 time champions for the next ToC. That will be the next time we see Matt Amodio.
Matt losing on Jeopardy tonight is just one phase of his life. The truth of the matter is Matt has been a winner all of his life due to his academic achievements. With four college degrees under his belt the guy is a genius and will do well in life due to being so humble. I love the way he held back that his mom is a University Professor in English with a Ph.D. in English when he was criticized for his constant phrasing of “what is” when referring to a person in clues as if he didn’t know better. Then when he dropped on GMA co-host T. J. Holmes that his father is a lawyer when on the show discussing the rules of Jeopardy I couldn’t contain my laughter. Four co-hosts were left speechless. That was smooth. Matt is a cool dude who knows what to say and when to say it.
My guess is that his doctoral dissertation is already complete. All that is left are finishing touches and then his defense. Before the 2021/2022 academic year is over he will definitely be Dr. Matthew Amodio. The guy has class and I enjoyed the way he applauded the champion who defeated him tonight. His research in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning will be very valuable to society and is definitely needed. Good luck to Matt in his career path in technology.
Matt was off today–he’s given his share of wrong answers before during the game play (way more than James ever did), but guessed wrong on too many today. Keep in mind that this was a Monday show and the first taping of the day, possibly the first of the week. (They usually tape 5 shows a day on 2 consecutive days, then resume a week (or more) later.) So today’s show was recorded anywhere from 1 day to a couple of weeks after his Friday win.
He definitely seemed tentative today. Way back in 1974, I was on a show called “Split Second.” I kicked butt for the first 2 shows, taped back to back, then had to wait 6 days till the next session. I was actually more nervous knowing I’d be on the first show that night than if I was just one person in the pool. They took the two smartest people from the new pool and put them against me. We had a great battle but I ultimately lost that game.
And Poland was a ridiculous answer. There are no Polish Alps that I know of, and the Danube doesn’t pass through it either. My initial guess was Austria, but toward the end of the music I started leaning toward Germany, thinking of how Berlin was split 4 ways.
You were thinking that Germany annexed Germany?
No, the Allies took control of Berlin and each had one sector under its control. But you’re right, the question specifically referred to Nazi Germany annexing this nation, which is how I immediately thought of Austria, then mindlessly remembered how Berlin was divided.
I’m so sad that he lost today.
Me, too. We will miss Matt Amodio so much!
now that the amodio is gone i hope decent players will again do the decent thing and work the board top to bottom and stop jumping around like baboons.
I don’t know why you say that, klm. It’s been demonstrated on the show that working the board from the bottom up is the quickest way to gain an advantage. Of course, you have to know the answers to do it and finding a Daily Double when you’ve got a few thou is helpful, too.
What always gets a hoot and holler out of me is when they find the Daily Double on the first pick and have no money. Too funny!
i agree VJ.
but the world has righted itself and it’s amazing again 🙂
sorry VJ, hope im not getting too carried away. im just so happy 🙂 🙂 :).
Well, the cheating insinuations are a bit too much, klm. As JP said earlier, Matt prepared well for the show and it paid off handsomely.
That being said, it will be a lot more entertaining to see some competitive games.
Well, looks like our new giant killer just started his little streak of games here after defeating Matt Amodio since he also nailed a couple of daily doubles yesterday and I hope he does that today.
“Bronchodilator”???!!! Give me a break! No one comes up with bronchodilator in a split second. Clearly something fishy was going on and clearly something malfunctioned today. It was obvious in the way he thumped on the lectern at that “Venom” clue. Perhaps trying to get the hidden microphone to work!
Can’t believe he can come up with bronchodilator and not the name of a movie every kid has heard of.
I don’t think “bronchodilator” is that obscure. The chances of cheating are very, very low, in my opinion. He obviously prepared well for the show, and it paid off, and he just had a bad day today.
Matt didn’t get any Daily Doubles today — same thing that happened to James H on the day he lost.
No. James found the Daily Double in the 1st Round on the 1st pick of the game. However, in James’ 17th game, he didn’t get any Daily Doubles, and he still had a huge runaway heading into Final Jeopardy!, and won. Yes, James didn’t find a Daily Double in the 1st day of the Greatest of All Time, but I’m talking about regular games, not tournaments.
Nobody here seems to remember that Germany first annexed Austria in 1938 as told in “The Sound of Music”. That was the Anschloss. On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria, and one day later, Austria was incorporated into Germany. This union, known as the Anschluss, received the enthusiastic support of most of the Austrian population and was retroactively approved via a plebiscite in April 1938.
Evidently, Charlie Doneson, you didn’t read the recap. That information is already in there next to the book cover which has Anschluss in big red letters on it. Anschluss is mentioned in the text from the Holocaust website and I also pointed out that Adolf was the Austrians’ homeboy.
I’m sure he’s happy for the winner Jonathan to have his day!!
O FRABJOUS DAY!
CALLOOH CALLAY!
I also don’t believe Matt really thought Poland was the answer. He knew they would both bet big.
His only chance was for them to both get it wrong (and HIS remaining $ would be be high enough.)
Odd how he suddenly had so much difficulty buzzing in and coincidentally unable to access either of the Doubles?
Host M overplayed/overstated all of it, imo…
Congrats, Matt Amodio! Great job! I wanted to see you keep winning!
I came up with Switzerland for the final question, but I sure wouldn’t have went with Poland.
Congrats to Jon on becoming the new Jeopardy champ. With that, Matt’s reign of champion has finally come to an end.
Matt didn’t look so good today. Maybe he was tired & ready to give it up. Otherwise he should not have missed the final clue.
See my post? Matt had buzzer issues we’ve never seen prior and he’s no dummy on strategy.
He didn’t necessarily need to get the final correct, he just needed THEM to miss it (both betting big to beat each other) and HIM have any money left.
Well Matt had a fantastic run so far with 38 wins but I would not have gotten Poland. Austria sure since the third man and the song the blue Danube was a dead giveaway. Welcome to the tournament of champions Matt. You’ve made Connecticut very proud of your accomplishments. Now with a new champion and a giant killer, perhaps Jon could do a streak if he gets his buzzer mojo in action. One and a half million dollars is a lot.
I don’t believe Matt really thought the country was Poland. The Alps, the Danube? If he said Switzerland, I would’ve bought it, even though the Danube doesn’t pass through there either but I could see someone thinking it does.
But Switzerland had the good sense to stay neutral in WW II as did Sweden and what is now Ireland among others. I thought it was What is Austria ? because of the divided zones in the classic film “The Third Man” and next to Germany and Berlin it is the most famous sectored region from WW II. Yet I was NOT certain! 🙂
There’s no “good sense” in staying neutral. “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
This is so true. Thanks for posting that.
I think Matt must have been “out of it” given his performance in Double Jeopardy. Poland is not a bad answer if you stop reading at “Nazi Germany annexed this nation”. Although admittedly “annexed” is not the right word for what they did to Poland.
Maybe it was a bad night of sleep before taping. Another reason it’s so difficult to go on such a long run – you can’t have any significant interruptions to your sleep schedule. Which is probably particularly difficult when you’re trying to sleep after the surreal experience of having won $300,000 in the course of 8 hours on TV.
Awww! I hoped Matt would have gotten a 39th win by today!
Good news: Another giant killer!
That’s right and for the first time in almost three months we finally have a new Jeopardy champion, Jonathan Fisher, congratulations to him. He was able to able to do what a lot of other players weren’t able to do and that is defeat Matt Amodio. We’re going to miss him but what a fantastic run that he had.
That’s what I and Wink Martindale on “Tic Tac Dough” would say whenever a giant killer defeats a long running champion. Congratulations, Jonathan. You were able to do what a lot of players were unable to do, and that is defeat Matt Amodio, and in doing so, you become our new champion, and you have won $29,200. Who knows? Maybe, that’s just the beginning of a long run for you as our champion. We’ll find out tomorrow. Again, Jonathan, congratulations. Well, Matt. Austria ended up to be the old downfall. It had to happen sooner or later, but I just want to say that you have given us so much interesting fun. Your “What’s?” strategy paid off. Last week, you’ve won your biggest 1-Day win of $83,000, and that is biggest 1-Day record set by anybody not named James Holzhauer. Speaking of James Holzhauer, even though he has won more money, you are 2nd for most games won. Sorry that you couldn’t accomplish your goal of $1,000,000 more than Ken Jennings, and that’s according to what I saw on Facebook, but you still had a fantastic run, and you leave us with 38 wins and over 1.5 Million Dollars.
He won’t be here after tomorrow’s game
Actually, I meant to say Austria & The 2 J’s ended up to be the old downfall, and meanpuppydog, Matt did not lose on purpose. He just got tired in the Double Jeopardy! Round.
Matt lost on purpose
He threw the fight. Lost on purpose.
I don’t know why he would do that, but I must agree that it appeared that way.
So many questions that he would easily have known.
And so seldom hitting the buzzer first..
Final Jeopardy was a easy one for him, but he missed on that as well.
Question, why would he have thrown it?
He didn’t throw the game, Langer. He was in third place in Final Jeopardy! There’s no way both Jessica and Jonathan were going to be wrong with that softball clue. They were both great players!