Final Jeopardy: The European Union (11-28-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (11/28/2025) in the category “The European Union” was:
The smallest member in both area & population, this island nation joined the EU in 2004
13x champ Harrison Whitaker, a researcher orig. from Terre Haute, IN, is up to $352,000 now. In Game 14, he’s up against: Wilder Seitz, a cashier & writer from Los Angeles, CA; and Samantha Meier, an asst. principal from North Reading, MA.
Round 1 Categories: Not the State Capital – Rough Times in the Bible – Tropical Fruits – Starts With 2 Vowels – Baby, I Can’t Fight This Feeling – Any Moore
Wilder found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Rough Times in the Bible” under the $800 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in the only one with any shekels. Wilder bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
Looking toward these 2 places, “Lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace” show
Harrison finished in the lead with $9,200. Wilder was second with $3,200 and Samantha was last with $3,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Unmitigated Gaul – Clothes in Books – Animals’ Scientific Names – Architects – “J”ams – Alliteration
Wilder found the first Daily Double in “Clothes in Books” under the $800 clue on the 18th pick. He was in second place with $10,800 now, $4,000 less than Harrison’s lead. Wilder bet $8,000 and guessed black. That was WRONG.
Completes the Wilkie Collins description of a woman’s attire: “Bonnet, shawl, and gown all of…” show
Wilder got the last Daily Double in “Animals’ Scientific Names” under the $2,000 clue, with 8 clues left after it. In last place with $3,600, he had $12,000 less than Harrison’s lead. Wilder bet $3,500 and guessed Bonobo. Whether he got that in time or not, it was WRONG.
Nasalis larvatus: this primate show
Harrison finished in the lead with $18,400. Samantha was next with $7,400 and Wilder was in third place with $500. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS MALTA?
The two smallest of the 5 European nations that are islands are Cyprus and Malta. Those 2 tiny nations joined the European Union on the same date: May 1, 2004. At 122 miles (or 315 km), Malta is much smaller than Cyprus (3572 miles or 9251 km)! Ireland joined what became the European Union in 1973. Iceland and the UK, the 2 other European island nations, are not members of the European Union. Wikipedia has a table with sortable statistics, listing all EU members.
An old FJ! from 2006: 2 of 3 European Union member nations whose names are only one syllable in English ANSWER: show
Wilder got it right. He bet $499 and finished with $999.
Samantha went with Iceland. She bet zero, so she didn’t lose a krona and her score remained $7,400.
Harrison also got it right. He bet $3,599 and won the game with $21,999. Harrison’s 14-day total is $373,999, and that wraps up November 2025, with Harrison winning 14 out of 20 games. That’s one game more than Ray Lalonde, but Harrison still needs $12,402 to top Ray’s winnings. If he does that on Monday, he might get to play against Ray’s identical twin brother, Ron, on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wouldn’t that be something to see?
2 triple stumpers from ALLITERATION:
($1600) Capris by a sportier name, they had a vogue mid-century but have been known to come back in style
($2000) Jerry Falwell Jr. eulogized Paul Weyrich in 2008 as “a pioneer of the Reagan Revolution” & this other conservative “R.R.”
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “BODIES OF WATER”
The Goshute, a Western people, called this vast body of water Teittse Paa, meaning “bad water” show
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Not a good showing by me at all. I did know the alliterative Capri pants and the alliterative burglar. And that fun Rick Springfield song.
What became a competitive game went south in a NY minute.
Drat! Tonight’s Jeopardy game was preempted by some football game in my area. Oh well!
For the second day, J! was pre-empted by, this time, college football. And, there’s no indication of any other showing. So, I have to go by this excellent summary.
2/3 on DD and missed FJ. Didn’t come up with Sodom and Gomorrah, and said – Cyprus for FJ. Malta didn’t even enter my mind.
I wish they could find a contestant who would be more competitive with Harrison.
Personally, I think that monkey ought to be named Nasalis Durante
Right on, VJ!
This Thanksgiving holiday turned out to be amazing for Harrison. He gets to enter December as a 14 day champion.