Final Jeopardy: Ancient Geography (2-6-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/6/2025) in the category “Ancient Geography” was:
Wadi al-Malekat in Arabic, this site near a similar and better known location was the burial place of Nefertari and others
The players in the last semifinal match of the 2025 Tournament of Champions are: 7x champ Drew Basile, a grad student from Birmingham, MI; Champions Wild Card 2nd place winner Drew Goins, a journalist from Honolulu, HI; and 3x champ Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, PA.
Ken announced that he was going to be addressing the Drews by their last names.
Round 1 Categories: Stocking the Cabinet – The Western Hemisphere – Legendary Tweets – Kind of Blue Pop Culture – Library Glossary – Ends in “Ff”
Basile found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Western Hemisphere” under the $800 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $800, $1,200 more than Goins in second place. Basile bet $1,000 and said Yukon. That was WRONG.
The name of this territory means “our land” in an Inuit language show
Goins finished in the lead with $4,800. Neilesh was second with $2,000 and Basile was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: English Lit – You Need to See a Specialist – The Arts – Newish Words & Phrases – Well, Well – Funny Boy is an Actor Now
Goins found the first Daily Double in “Newish Words & Phrases” under the $1,600 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in second place with $3,600, $5,200 less than Neilesh’s lead. Goins bet all of it and he was RIGHT.
This online activity of anxiously poring over the sad state of affairs was in full swing in 2024 show
On the next pick, Goins found the last Daily Double in “You Need to See a Specialist” under the $1,600 clue. He was in second place with $7,200, $1,600 less than Neilesh’s lead. Goins made it a true Daily Double again. He came up with Guillain-Barre but that was WRONG.
An epileptologist will know how to treat tonic-clonic seizures, the bad kind also known by this French name show
Neilesh finished in the lead with $8,800. Basile was second with $6,800 and Goins was last with $4,400. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS THE VALLEY OF THE QUEENS?
The Valley of the Kings is known far and wide as the burial place of Egyptian pharaohs and other bigwigs in ancient Thebes (now Luxor). Not far from there, Egyptian queens were entombed in their own valley. Queen Nefertari, favorite consort of II is one of the most famous tombs. In 1979, UNESCO made the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, Karnak, Luxor, and other sites of Thebes to the World Heritage List. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/87/
U.S. News & World Report ranks the Valley of the Kings the No. 2 best attraction in Luxor. The Valley of the Queens only made No. 8!
Goins went with the Valley of the Kings. He lost $400 and finished with $4,000.
Basile got it right. He bet $2,002 and finished with $8,802.
Neilish got it, too. He bet $4,801 and won the game with $13,601. Starting tomorrow, Neilesh will be joining Adriana Harmeyer and Isaac Hirsch for a fight to the finish; that is, however long it takes one of them to win 3 games.
A triple stumper from each round:
KIND OF BLUE POP CULTURE ($400) In this frat comedy, Will Ferrell sings a riveting rendition of “Dust In The Wind” at the funeral of his pal Blue
FUNNY BOY IS AN ACTOR NOW ($2000) Sacha Baron Cohen gets all upset on “Disclaimer”, with this blonde actress as documentarian Catherine Ravenscroft
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “THEATER HISTORY”
In 1904, wearing a harness, actress Nina Boucicault became the first to play this character onstage show
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Neilesh took down both Drews and won. It wasn’t easy but he did it. And so that ends the run of a Cinderella story for Drew Goins. One mistake on that third daily double cost him the win but we got to congratulate him on a remarkable run in Season 41. This is gonna be an exciting finals, it will go up to 7 games.