Final Jeopardy: The Internet (12-3-13)

The Final Jeopardy question (12/3/2013), in the category “The Internet” was:

The inventor of this image format said the OED wrongly has 2 pronunciations of it — the right one is with a soft “g.”

New champ Scott Claremon won the title and $7,899 yesterday. Today he is up against these two players: Tina Nguyen, from New York, NY; and Carlos Ross, from Austin, TX.

Alex Trebek noted that Scott’s savvy betting was the deciding factor after a “tough” FJ stumped all 3 players yesterday. Newsflash, Alex, it really was a no-brainer for most fans of 3 different music groups! Oh, and by the way, Carnie Wilson was on “The Talk” last month. We’ve got a video of that “Show Biz Stupid Answers” clue from last week over here.

Scott found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Hook.” He was in second place with $2,400, $200 behind Carlos’ lead. He bet $1,200 and he was RIGHT.

Used on fishing boats, this long pole with an iron hook is a homophone of a social blunder. show

WHAT IS A GAFF?

Scott finished in the lead with $7,000. Carlos was second with $6,000 and Tina was last with $2,800.

Tina found the first Daily Double in “-ologies.” She was now in second place with $7,200,
$3,000 less than Scott’s lead. She bet $3,000 and she was RIGHT.

Oral Roberts University has a college of it. show

WHAT IS THEOLOGY?

Carlos found the last Daily Double in “Starts & Ends with a Vowel.” In third place with $9,200, he had $4,600 less than Scott’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT. Yeah!

The name of this secret sect said to have formed in 1776 is from the Latin for “enlightened” … but I’ve said too much. show

WHAT IS THE ILLUMINATI?

Carlos finished in the lead with $19,600. Scott was next with $17,400 and Tina was in third place with $16,200.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS A GIF?

Since you need to sign into the OED site, we’re going to have to go with Merriam-Webster, which has the two pronunciations for GIF, the acronym for “graphics interchange format.” In fact, M-W has the hard “g” pronunciation first, as the preferred one. The inventor may not agree, but The White House does.

Tina bet $3,500 and she finished with $19,700.

Scott bet $15,001 and he finished with $32,401.

Carlos bet $15,201, bringing his total up to $34,801 and making him the new Jeopardy! champ.

A great game from all 3 players, and Tina won some money after all. During the chat, she said that a fist pump from Alex Trebek meant more to her than winning money. She got the fist pump, too.

Alex also announced the results of fan votes for 3 players from 3 decades to compete in the Battle of the Decades. The winners are:

1980s: Andy Westney from Charlotte, NC
1990s: Shane Whitlock from Little Rock, AR
2000s: Tom Nissley from Seattle, WA