Final Jeopardy: Landlocked Countries (2-25-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (2/25/2021) in the category “Landlocked Countries” was:
Losing its ocean access in 1993, this African Union member is the most populous landlocked nation, with 110 million people
2x champ Aaron Craig, a business litigation attorney orig. from Toronto, Ontario, has now won $51,254. In Game 3, the challengers are: Marisa Blackburn, a senior staffing services assoc. orig. from Short Hills, NJ; and Michael Colton, a screenwriter orig. from Newton, MA.
Round 1 Categories: Musical Idioms to My Ears – First Name’s the Same – “Round” the World – Businesses – Shedding Light – On the Subject
Aaron found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Shedding Light” under the $800 clue, with 3 clues worth $2,400 left after it. He was in the lead with $6,800, $4,200 more than Michael in second place. He bet $1,000 and thought it was a nativity candle. That was WRONG.
Visit San Antonio and you can see a big mosaic of the Virgin Mary shaped like (image) one of these prayer candles show
Aaron finished in the lead with $6,600. Marisa was second with $3,200 and Michael was last with $2,600. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: History – Poets & Poetry – Chicken Nuggets – Antarctica – Films of the ’80s – “Dis” Information
Michael found the first Daily Double in “Films of the ’80s” under the $1,600 clue on the very first pick. The scores were the same as above. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Its ensemble cast included William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Glenn Close & Meg Tilly. show
Aaron got the last Daily Double in “History” under the $800 clue on the 19th pick of the round. In the lead with $14,200, he had $5,000 more than Michael in second place. He bet $4,000 and just said “Nicholas”. That was WRONG.
One of Russia’s foremost reformers, he was proclaimed imprimatur in 1721. show
Aaron finished in the lead with $13,800. Michael was next with $11,600 and Marisa was in third place with $9,200. No clues went uncovered.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS ETHIOPIA?
Indexmundi.com has a comparison chart of Eritrea vs. Ethiopia. In the Geography – note section on Eritrea’s side, it says the country occupies a “strategic geopolitical position along world’s busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993”. On Ethiopia’s side, it says: “note 1: landlocked – entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993; Ethiopia is, therefore, the most populous landlocked country in the world…”
The above video explains that although the borders of the two countries were decided upon in 1993, disputes continued until 2018 when Ethiopia agreed to officially finalize the borders.
Marisa went with Chad, which was already landlocked in 1993. She bet and lost it all.
Michael thought it was Nigeria, which has an 850-something km coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean. He lost $2,399 and finished with $9,201.
Aaron had Nigeria, too. He lost $9,427. That dropped his score down to $4,373, and made Michael Colton the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
POETS & POETRY ($1600) A pioneer imagist, he spent 1946-1958 in St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital, future home of John Hinckley
($2000) Fittingly, the epitaph on Oscar Wilde’s grave contains a quote from his last work, this “Ballad”
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Women in U.S. History”
In 1901 this activist was jailed for inspiring the assassination of William McKinley, but the charge was later dropped show
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Am I the only one who caught the production error? Or are there different versions of the show for different parts of the country? I’ve watched for decades, and the first break ALWAYS comes exactly midway thru the first round. Always. But last night, Mike got two questions into the second half of the first round before he broke for commercial and contestant interviews. Oh the humanity! Anyone else see this?
Yep. I noticed it too. I think he didn’t see the cues to go to break when he should have.
Looks like I’m regaining my stride. My third Final Jeopardy “skunk” of the year came tonight by the skin of my teeth.
The first thing that came to mind were the changes in the northeast corner of Africa, and South Sudan came to mind. But then I realized there’s no way it would have that many people. Somalia came to kind next, but I’ve heard too much about Somalian pirates to believe that that country was now landlocked. The only one left to fill the high-population numbers was Ethiopia, so that was my final response after the 30-second time limit. I began to doubt myself thinking maybe it was actually Sudan, being cut off by South Sudan, but my 30-second hunch paid off.
Smart wagering by Michael. He considered that Marisa might bet $0 and stay at $9200, so he made sure he’d end up with no less than $9201. And he knew Aaron had to get it wrong for him to win, so he also bet enough to surpass Aaron if he got it right and Aaron either missed or bet $0.
Didn’t play out that way, but Marisa probably should have bet $0 and hoped the guys bet big and missed the final. That’s sometimes a winning strategy but would not have been tonight thanks to Michael’s savvy thinking.
Good analysis of wagering technique, Howard. Yes, Michael wagered very smartly, something you don’t often see on the show. Makes me wonder why these knowledgeable people are sometimes mathematically inept.
Maybe the 3rd time will be the charm.
Tough Final Jeopardy as we got a triple stumper.
Tough jeopardy final today but I think there was a similar category in 2018 with landlocked countries and the clue was in the African region. Maybe michael could be a multi day winner but we shall see how he does. Marisa should have stayed with her original bet. An easier category tomorrow might improve michael’s score.
Darn those Daily Doubles.