Final Jeopardy: European Countries (11-1-16)
The Final Jeopardy question (11/1/2016) in the category “European Countries” was:
This nation joined the Warsaw Pact in 1955 & NATO in 2009, & was alphabetically first in each.
New champ Thea Lawton won $24,400 yesterday. In her second match, she takes on these two players: Denver Wade, from Westfield, IN; and Vivek Ravishanker, from Higganum, CT.
Round 1 Categories: NASCAR from the Driver’s Seat – Geographic Nicknames – Advertising – That’s Awful Grimm – You’re the Top – E Before I, but No C Do I Spy
Denver found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Advertising” under the $1000 clue. Only the NASCAR category was left after it. He was in third place with $2,600, $1,800 less than Thea’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and guessed Alexander Hamilton. That was WRONG.
One ad in the Clio Hall of Fame is the 1993 “Got Milk” commercial named for this man born in 1756. show
Vivek finished in the lead with $4,600. Thea was second with $4,400 and Denver was last with $2,000.
Round 2 Categories: Reptiles – The 19th Century – Miss-ing You – Pulitzer Prize Winners – Can I Have a Word? – MTV Movie Awards: Best Kiss Winners
Vivek found the first Daily Double in “Pulitzer Prize Winners” under the $1,200 clue on the 8th pick. In second place, he had $6,200 at this point, $3,400 less than Thea’s lead. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
The Washington Post shared a 2014 Pulitzer for revealing widespread secret surveillance by this Govt. agency. show
Vivek found the last Daily Double in “Reptiles” under the $1,200 clue, with only 2 clues left after it. He was in second place with $14,000, $1,600 less than Thea’s lead. He bet $3,200 and he was RIGHT.
This lizard was discovered in 1910 by Lt. Van Hensbroek on the Indonesian island for which it’s named. show
Thea snapped up those last 2 clues and finished in the lead with $19,200. Vivek was next with $17,200 and Denver was in third place with $5,600.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS ALBANIA?
Here is a video showing European countries’ alliances from 1949-2015 for a visual depiction of when Albania was in and out of the Warsaw Pact and joined NATO much later. It’s easy to spot Albania down there on the Balkan peninsula next to Greece.
The BBC has a great timeline of key events in Albania’s history. Albania was a founding member in the Warsaw Pact in 1955 but withdrew from it in 1968 due to the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. Albania officially joined NATO on April 1, 2009.
Denver got it right. He bet it all and finished with $11,200.
Vivek also got it. He bet $5,999 and that put him at $23,199.
Thea came up with France. That cost her $17,300 so she landed in third place with $1,900. That made Vivek today’s winner and new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
ADVERTISING ($600) Ads asked “How about a nice” one of these, the name of a drink brand
THE 19th CENTURY ($1200) What we call this 1853 “Purchase” is known in Mexico as La Venta de la Mesilla
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “The Supreme Court”
After Washington & FDR, he is, perhaps fittingly, the president who appointed the most Supreme Court Justices. show
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VJ, thanks for the video. Like Marilyn and Rhonda I don’t recall ever seeing the commercial. Also, like Marilyn my better half didn’t recall seeing it either and all of us are in the same age range. Where was the commercial aired? Do you know?
Btw, I was watching the World Series. There will be a game 7. Whoa!
I saw it just on regular TV in the 90s, Jacob. I was living in North Jersey at the time. I remember asking my son if he saw it and he started laughing his head off and saying Aawon Buhh. He was only about 18 at the time and maybe he wouldn’t have noticed it either if he hadn’t learned about the duel from me. This article says they were rerunning it in California about 6 years ago and it got another award.
Something about the Hamilton/Burr duel was always in NJ papers every July 11th. Want to see something really funny? Back on July 11, 2014, I had predicted a clue on it for that game and they had one. They had a Malcolm Gladwell clue that day, too. You mentioned it in the comments.
Does anyone remember what the geographic nickname for Scotland was?
It was Haggisland, Rhonda
“Haggisland”
Thanks, VJ and Marilyn
Congrats to vivek on his big win. i wonder if he could be playing like pranjal did previously? I thought thea would have gotten albania as well too
Those under 30 might not remember the Aaron Burr Milk commercial, unless they’ve seen it on Youtube, seeing it’s now almost a quarter century old.
I put the Aaron Burr commercial at the end of the 12/31/13 recap. The FJ category was 19th Century VPs and he was the answer.
We can’t say Aaron Burr in this house without pretending we have peanut butter in our mouths because of that commercial.
Thanks, VJ. Though my better half and I are way, way over 30, we did not remember this commercial.
you’re welcome, Marilyn. Funny, there was a remake of the commercial last year featuring Leslie Odom, Jr (Aaron Burr in the Hamilton musical).
It’s called a parody but the only difference I can see is at the end it says Got Hamilton? instead of Got Milk? So it was more like an advertisement than a parody to me.
I didn’t remember this commercial either, thanks for posting it, VJ.
10 more clues from this match are up now, including the MTV Kiss category. LINK
I’ve got links to the stories from the 2 Grimm tales that the players missed, too. idk if they are the grimmest of the Grimm, but they surely are grim!
Good game. But grimm was most definitely grim. 🙂
Congrats Vivek. I hope he wins tomorrow. He makes the game fun to watch.
Glad at least not phrasing the one clue in DJ! in question form isn’t what cost THea the win, that’d have been more embarrassing I guess.
Congrats on the 2/3 call vj.
Surprised Thea came up with France.
Thanks Jacob. I was mucho surprised myself. She was smiling and I thought she had it for sure.
Late on the response, and haven’t commented here in a while, but it seemed to me that Thea purposely tanked the clue when I saw the episode, possibly because she felt sorry for Vivek, but after connecting through the Jeopardy contestant FB network, I think it was just a massive unfortunate brain fart. At least she has a good sense of humor about it on FB going off of her cover photo there, though the Twitter mobs were roasting her over it apparently.
Hey Jesse! Nice to hear from you. Never would have thought of that possibility. If she wanted to throw the match, she could have just underwagered, right? But, yes, Thea was certainly a good sport.