Final Jeopardy: Around the USA (12-8-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (12/8/2025) in the category “Around the USA” was:
A geological survey published in 1883 said this landmark was “regular in its operations” that “occur…frequently”
3x champ Ron Lalonde, a medical physicist from Pittsburgh, PA, won $52,501 last week. In Game 4, he’s up against: Will Riley, an engineer orig. from Houston, TX; and Morgan Lloyd, an English teacher from San Diego, CA.
Round 1 Categories: World Traveling – Oh, You Shall Football – Bestsellers – Music Terms – “IA” – What Does the Fax Say?
Will found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “World Traveling” under the $1000 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in last place with $200, $600 less than Morgan’s lead. Will bet the $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
It’s off to the settlement originally named Canterbury that became this New Zealand city show
Ron finished in the lead with $5,600. Morgan was second with $2,800 and Will was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Roman Emperors – All Kinds of Animals – Mexican Americans – Love Connections – Instagram Stories – That Seems Fair
Will found the first Daily Double in “Roman Emperors” under the $1,600 clue on the first pick. The scores were the same as above. Will bet the $2,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
A persistent enemy of Christianity, late 4th century Emperor Julian was known by this word for one who rejects his religion show
Ron got the last Daily Double in “That Seems Fair” under the $1,600 clue on the 14th pick. In the lead with $8,000, he had $2,400 more than Will in second place. Ray bet $4,000 and drew a blank so he was WRONG.
These 2 words, one with an extra 2 letters, can mean a promise of the same opportunity vs. the same outcome show
Will finished in the lead with $10,800. Ron was next with $8,400 and Morgan was in third place with $3,600. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS OLD FAITHFUL?
According to “The Story of a Yellowstone Icon” on the USGS website, the quote in today’s clue is from the report of lead geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden, the leader of the 1871 geological survey that was instrumental in helping to establish Yellowstone as the world’s first national park in 1872. Explaining how the geyser was named Old Faithful, Hayden wrote: “This geyser was named by Mr. N. P. Langford, and well sustains the reputation given it by the Doane and Washburn expedition of 1870. It has been called the Guardian of the Valley. It is so regular in its operations and they occur so frequently that it has afforded unusual facilities for observation.”
A top tourist attraction, you will almost always find Old Faithful at the top of lists of things to see or do at Yellowstone National Park.
Morgan had the San Andreas Fault. She bet and lost her whole $3,600.
Ron got it right. He bet $1,199 and finished with $9,599.
Will also got it right. He bet $6,001 and won the game with $16,801. Will Riley is the new Jeopardy champ!
A triple stumper from each round:
WORLD TRAVELING ($800) We can enjoy a nice 4-hour drive south from O’Higgins to Los Ángeles (the one in Bío Bío) in this South American country
ROMAN EMPERORS ($2000) Vespasian was the founder of this dynasty that began a vast building program including the Colosseum
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “20TH CENTURY LITERATURE”
Thomas Pynchon wrote that this novelist “in 1948 understood that despite the Axis defeat…fascism had not gone away” show
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Good for Will! What a knowledgeable young man he is. He rallied from a distant 3rd to take the lead, made a couple of expensive boo-boos, then Ron paid it back by missing the DD. The 3 DDs clobbered me, as did the Romans, but Final was a gimme.
Ron obviously wagered for 2nd place (he even wrote “I had fun”) but would have lost if Will had bet $0 and missed FJ. A $2401 wager would have put him in the lead temporarily.
Got the S. American country but only after the first of 2 missed it. Did know the 5-syllable tariff word. Surprised no one knew the royal couple. Got the “Running Man” actor.
I think it was the top clue in That Seems Fair; did they misspell “dessert” as “desert” or was that intentional? I was playing J6 early this morning and they misspelled Maria Callas as Callis.
Just deserts is correct. So says Merriam Webster and other dictionaries.. i noticed the Callas mistake too.
O’Higgins, as in Bernardo, was supposed to be the giveaway on the South American country.
No, it’s not. It’s ‘just desserts’ with two esses. My English teacher taught us the sweet treat has two esses because everybody’s happy for seconds when it comes to dessert. Hence the second S. You can PRONOUNCE desert the same as dessert when you’re referring to leaving someone or something behind. But the after dinner treat is always dessert. So, you were right, @Howard, and I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who caught that!!
OOPS, MY BAD! Turns out the phrase ‘just deserts’ has absolutely nothing to do with sweet treats! 😆 VJ is right – deserts is a derivative of what one deserves. Apologies for jumping the gun on my reply and thank you for the prompt to Google that for myself and learn something new today. 😆😆
All 3 made great wagers. It’s just that this was the way things went in FJ!.
They had a similar FJ! clue a couple of years ago in the category Natural Landmarks: The Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition happened upon it in 1870 & named it for the regularity of its activity
Everyone got it.
As he was trailing Will, Ron should have went for broke in Fj. Failing that, Will became the new Jeopardy champion. Well, I performed rather badly in the game as I thought that the clues were somewhat tough. Anyways, the FJ was only too obvious.
Ron thought his best chance was to bet low and hope Will got the final clue wrong.
Well Ron had obviously thought wrong.
I like Ron, sad to see him go.