Final Jeopardy: Literature & Sickness (2-17-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/17/2025) in the category “Literature & Sickness” was:
Still around today, this strep infection that causes a rash has terrible effects in “Little Women” & “Little Town on the Prairie”
Jeopardy! kicks off its 2025 Invitational Tournament today. The players in QF #1 are: 38x champ Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, NY; 8x champ Hannah Wilson, a yarn store owner from Chicago, IL; and 5x champ (Fleming) & 4x champ (Trebek) Doug Molitor, a novelist orig. from Altadena, CA.
Round 1 Categories: We’re Talkin’ Baseball – This & That – 2-word Rhymes – Clothes Minded – Novel Title Characters – The President is in Trouble
Hannah found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “2-Word Rhymes” under the $1,000 clue on the 10th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $4,000, $1,800 more than Matt in second place. Hannah made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.
Magic phrase that’s also a Kurt Vonnegut book title show
Hannah finished in the lead with $9,600. Matt was second with $6,800 and Doug was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Ancient Times – Sudden “Death” – Scientific Discoveries – Taking Lessons – Album Fill in the Blank – Philosophy
Doug found the first Daily Double in “Ancient Times” under the $1,200 clue on the 1st pick of the round. He was in last place with $800, $8,800 less than Hannah’s lead. Doug said true Daily Double but realized he could bet the $2,000 allowance. He did and tried meritocracy but that was WRONG.
To Ancient Greek poli sci, it was rule by the few & not the best few; the Thirty Tyrants of Athens in 403 B.C. are an example show
Matt found the last Daily Double in “Philosophy” under the $800 clue on the 15th pick of the round. He was in second place with $13,600, $5,600 less than Hannah’s lead. Matt bet it all and he was RIGHT.
Nick Bostrom is known for his argument that we are living in this, run by posthuman intelligences on their machines show
Matt finished in the lead with $30,400. Hannah was second with $22,400. Doug was last with negative $3,200 and out of the game at this point. All clues were shown.
BOTH contestants left in Final Jeopardy! got it right.
WHAT IS SCARLET FEVER?
During the 19th century, several epidemics of scarlet fever spread throughout the world. Symptoms included a red bumpy rash, sore throat, fever, swollen lymph nodes and tonsils. Louisa May Alcott, author of “Little Women” had a younger sister, Elizabeth, who contracted scarlet fever. It weakened her health to an extent that was eventually fatal. Louisa May recreated her sister’s tragedy in the character of Beth March, who contracts scarlet fever twice and eventually dies.
In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” series, scarlet fever is the cause of Mary Ingall’s blindness. However, medical researchers found “Mary’s blindness was understood by her family to have been caused not by scarlet fever, but by brain fever, a colloquial term for meningoencephalitis.” They surmise that Wilder thought it less complicated for her readers to just attribute Mary’s blindness to scarlet fever.
These and other literary examples of disease are discussed in Harvard Medical’s article “Fever Dreams”.
Hannah bet $8,001 and finished with $30,401.
Matt bet $15,000 and won the game with $45,400. Matt Amodio is the first semifinalist.
A triple stumper from each round:
THIS & THAT ($800) In a car engine the radiator dissipates heat & this other device circulates the coolant through the engine
PHILOSOPHY ($000) 18th c. esthetics used this adjective for things awesome, not just pretty; Edmund Burke called it “the strongest of all the passions”
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “WRITERS & THE SOUTH”
In 1939 he lived on Toulouse Street in the French Quarter & chose the professional name that bonded him to the South show
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I was 3/3 on DD, and got FJ (easily, as my buddy Howard might guess). Likewise, the Presidential clues were relatively easy, including the early machine by AG Bell. The problem? The iron bed!!
It was lovely to see Hannah again. Doug, I didn’t even know. Is he related to Paul?
Oy, coolant running through the carburetor? Matt’s PhD obviously not in automotive mechanics.
Doug was totally out of his element and even missed the very gettable DD, only one I could come up with. I saw the most recent “Little Women” film but that was of no help in FJ. None of the listed stumpers went my way either. And total strikeout on the album titles.
So what is this “invitational” tournament all about? What criteria, if any, were there for inclusion? What could possibly have qualified Doug? Hasn’t Matt been overexposed after all these appearances? Are we devoid of regular games until March or April, like in 2024?
It was a given that none of the contestants knew anything about car engines. Heck, they probably couldn’t even locate the oil stick. Anyways, it was another fine and competitive game. I didn’t get the FJ as I was never a fan of ‘The Little House Of The Prairie’ TV show.
Doug ties a record set by Lionel Goldbart as the only own players to fail to reach Final Jeopardy more than once. Poor Doug as he received a worst draw against these two big champions. His first return in over 31 years has ended up a disaster for him.
This was not Doug’s day, and I was also hoping that Hannah Wilson would win, so that she’ll be 1 step closer to joining “The 300 Club”. Didn’t work out that way.
Doug’s last name has 2 O’s.