Final Jeopardy: The European Union (10-8-15)

The Final Jeopardy question (10/8/2015) in the category “The European Union” was:

Since Bulgaria joined in 2007, the E.U.’s 3 official alphabets have been our Latin one and these 2.

9x champ Matt Jackson now has winnings of $249,411. Today he takes on these two players: Sameer Rawal, from Toronto, ONT, Canada; and Erik Latshaw, from Los Angeles, CA.

If we were rooting for contestants by shirt, we’d root for Erik. If we were rooting by tie, we’d root for Erik, too. Yes, he was the only one to wear one but it was very snazzy.

Round 1: Matt found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Whose Life Is It” under the $1,200 clue on the first pick in that category (par for the course). He was in the lead with $5,200, $3,000 more than Erik in second place. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

Born New York, 1929. Lived briefly in Camelot. Died New York, 1994. show

WHO IS JACKIE KENNEDY?

Matt finished in the lead with $16,800. Erik was second with $4,400 and Sameer was last with $1,200.

Round 2: Matt found the first Daily Double in “Energy” under the $4,000 clue. He was in the lead with $20,000, $14,400 more than Erik in second place. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.

Washington leads all states by getting 76% of its electricity from this renewable method. show

WHAT IS HYDROELECTRIC POWER?

Matt found the last Daily Double in “4-Letter Knowledge” under the $2,000 clue. In the lead with $26,400, he was now $20,800 ahead of Erik in second place. He bet $4,000 again and he was RIGHT.

Famous caravel of 1492. show

WHAT IS THE NINA?

Matt finished in the lead with $42,400, his highest pre-FJ total so far. Erik was next with $12,800 and Sameer was in third place with $3,200.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT ARE GREEK AND CYRILLIC?

In the wikipedia article 2007 Enlargement of the European Union, it says that when Bulgaria joined the E.U. “… Cyrillic became the third official alphabet of the EU, after the Latin and Greek alphabets. Cyrillic will also be featured on the euro banknotes and the national (obverse) side of the Bulgarian euro coins. The ECB and the EU Commission insisted that Bulgaria change the official name of the currency from ЕВРО (EVRO) (as accepted) to ЕУРО (EURO), claiming that the currency should have a standard spelling and pronunciation across the EU…. The issue was decisively resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon, allowing Bulgaria to use the Cyrillic spelling евро on all official EU documents.”

Sameer wrote down Cyrillic & Turkic. He lost his $416 bet and finished with $2,784.

Erik got it right. He bet $6,300 and finished with $19,100.

Matt only wrote down Cyrillic. He lost his $2,400 bet and won the match with $40,000, giving him a 10-day total of $289,411.

2 years ago:: (Incredibly) Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Literary Illustrations”

Émile Bayard’s illustration of this character, seen here, first appeared in the 1860s. show

WHO IS COSETTE?

“If it’s pink, it’s a link” — the image in this FJ is on the old recap and there’s also a video of the category “Southern Bookstores.”