Final Jeopardy: 18th Century America (2-23-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/23/2026) in the category “18th Century America” was:
South Carolina’s second-biggest cash crop in the mid-to-late 1700s was this inedible one named for a land far to the east
New champ, Trey Hart, a grant writer from Petaluma, CA, won $24,100 when we last saw him on the Alex Trebek stage. In Game 2, he’s back to take on: Zach Johnson-Dunlop, a lighting technician orig. from St. Charles, IL; and Katie Pach, a marketing coordinator from Chicago, IL.
Round 1 Categories: Makes – Words in 20th Century History – No Stone Unturned – From the Greek – Jump Through These Hoops – Boston Space
Katie found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “From the Greek” under the $1,000 clue on the 10th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $2,200 now, $1,400 more than Trey and Zach tied in second place. Katie bet $1,200 and tried vent. That was WRONG.
This word for a release of emotions comes from Greek for “to purge” or “to cleanse” show
Zach finished in the lead with $2,000. Trey was in second place with $1,400. Katie was last with $600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Remakes – Lines From Classic Lit – Airports – The Religious Rite – Science – Tough Vocab
Zach found the first Daily Double in “The Religious Rite” under the $800 clue on the 13th pick of the round. He was in second place with $3,600 now, $4,200 less than Trey’s lead. Zach bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
Omiki is this, imbibed at Shinto ceremonies after it has been offered to the gods show
Katie got the last Daily Double in “Airports” under the $1,600 clue on the 20th pick of the round. At $1,000, she had $6,800 less than Zach’s lead after he got zinged for $1,600 on a reversal (see below). Katie made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.
Her name is on the world’s busiest airport named for a woman show
Zach finished in the lead with $10,600. Trey was in second place with $10,200. Katie was last with $4,000. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS INDIGO?
Beginning in 1739, Eliza Lucas Pinckney cultivated indigo seeds she obtained from Antigua, proving the plant could flourish in South Carolina. This led to a booming industry in the colony, fortunes were made on the backs of slaves, and the indigo dye became known as “blue gold.” It was South Carolina’s second largest source of income in the latter 18th century. The industry died out after the Revolutionary War when Britain moved its business to India.
The Etymology Dictionary traces the origin of indigo back to the Greek indikon meaning “blue dye from India”; this 1992 Word Origins clue pins it on a river: ($300) The name of this blue dye flows back to the Indus River
Katie crossed out tobacco and got as far as “in-” when time ran out. She bet and lost her whole $4,000.
Trey went with cotton. He aimed to stay out of Katie’s reach and hope Zach was wrong, so he bet zero and stood pat on $10,200.
Zach came up with Ceylon tea. He lost $10,000 and had $600 left. That made Trey a 2x champ with $34,300. Nice going, Trey!
Reversal: SCIENCE ($1600) Canopus is the second-brightest star in the night sky; this one is first – Ken accepted Zach’s response of Canis Major (the constellation). He should have asked Zach to be more specific and name the star (Sirius). They took away $1,600 from Zach for not giving the right response, but didn’t penalize him because Ken didn’t give him the chance to be right.
A triple stumper from each round:
JUMP THROUGH THESE HOOPS ($800) SGA, this guy, won the 2024 to ’25 NBA MVP Award to go along with the scoring title & NBA championship
SCIENCE ($2000) From words meaning “ancient” & “recent”, it was the epoch immediately following the dinosaurs’ extinction
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “ART HISTORY”
The Royal Academy of Arts has this man’s “La Fornarina” & in the 1800s the RAA’s love of him made some artists retreat to an earlier style show
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I wondered if they would have known that Henley poem if the quotes were “I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul”
It certainly would have made it more recognizable as I believe it is quoted far more often than today’s clue.
It’s good to be back for regular games after 11 weeks of postseason. Katie was going for indigo but she didn’t have time to replace it. If she had started the right response a few seconds earlier, this would have not been a triple stumper.