Final Jeopardy: The U.S. Government (3-12-15)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/12/2015), in the category “The U.S. Government” was:
On Aug. 15, 1994, 59 years and 1 day after FDR signed the original act, Bill Clinton made this an independent agency.
New champ Kristin Sausville won $24,801 in yesterday’s game. Today her opponents are: Stephanie Hull, from Columbia, MO; and Brad King, from Hartland, MI.
Round 1: Kristin found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Presidential Secrets” under the $1,000 clue before the first break. It was the 5th clue picked in the round, all in the same category. She was in the lead with $1,400, $800 ahead of Stephanie in second place. She made it a true Daily Double and thought it was Polk. That was WRONG.
In the last year of his presidency in 1844, he secretly married a woman 30 years younger. show
Kristin finished in the lead with $4,400. Stephanie was second with $3,200 and Brad was last with $2,600.
Round 2: Kristin found the first Daily Double in “Zodiac Constellations” under the $800 clue. She was in the lead with $5,200, $1,200 ahead of Stephanie in second place. She bet $2,400 and guessed “Taurus.” That was WRONG.
This constellation is where you’ll find the sun as spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere. show
Brad found the last Daily Double in “Lyricists” under the $1,600 clue. At this point, Kristin was the only one with any money. She had $9,200, Brad was in the hole for $1,000 and Stephanie was in the hole for $1,200. Brad bet the $2,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
Oscar Hammerstein II & this other great partner of Richard Rodgers were classmates at Columbia. show
This mind-boggling round, full of ill-advised guessing, ended with 5 clues left on the board. Kristin was still the only one with a positive score: $8,400. Brad was in the hole for $200 and Stephanie was in the hole for $6,800, so no Final Jeopardy! for them.
Kristin got Final Jeopardy! WRONG.
“At an historic White House bill-signing ceremony on August 15 1994, Public Law 103-296 – Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994 – was signed into law. President Bill Clinton symbolically used one of the pens President Franklin Roosevelt had used when he signed the original Social Security Act 59 years ago, on August 14,1935. The new legislation officially separates the Social Security Administration (SSA) from the Department of Health and Human Services (HBS), effective March 31, 1995, and restores the SSA to its original status as an independent Federal agency. (Since 1939, SSA has operated under the direction of a “parent” agency.) ” (SSA.gov: Public Law 103-296)
The SSA has its organizational history online here, including the “59 years and one day after FDR signed the original act,” wording that’s in the clue.
Kristin came up with the FDIC. She lost her $1,600 bet but won the game with $6,800. Her 2-day total is $31,601.
During the chat, Kristin talked about how she and her brother found common ground in their love of attending Bruce Springsteen concerts, probably why she wished on Twitter that she was playing the game with the Springsteen FJ. Maybe yesterday’s Weird Al FJ made up for that a little bit.
2 years ago:: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Shakespeare”
Samuel Johnson said Shakespeare “so carefully informs us” that this play is set on the eve of May Day & yet called it this. show
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Wow! I am in shock that two players didn’t play Final Jeopardy!. The last two I remember was February 23, 2005 and March 16, 2011. I like Kristin Sausville. I wish she could marry Alex Trebek.
A single player FInal Jeopardy! happened in 2005 during the ultimate Tournament of Champions no less. Four known other single player FJ! games occurred during the first three seasons of Trebek J!.
Just wondering about a stupid scenario…..if Kristin had bet it all on FJ and ended with zero, would she have still be the winner?
McGushin, if she had bet everything and gotten it wrong, she would’ve still lost, because nobody can ever win with a zero score.
I envisioned a more weird scenario over on CotD. What if all 3 contestants ever ended up in negative territory? With no fj what would happen?
idk — if nobody qualified for FJ, we’d probably have to listen to a lot more of Alex’ jokes than usual to fill up the time slot.
As for the other scenario, where the lone FJ player bet it all and lost — the only one I can imagine even trying that would be Roger Craig ’cause that’s how he rolls. 🙂
J! Archive shows March 16, 2011 Tom Kunzen was the only player in that game’s fj. The other 2 contestants were in the minus territory and ineligible to play.
Odd that it happened in March also. I can’t wait to see Keith’s Final Wager video on today’s game.
This is unbelievable! First time in jeopardy history that I have seen two contestants eliminated from the game after double jeopardy. Unbelievable but congrats to Kristin, keep the winnings going.
That’s gotta be the 1st time that’s happened in 4 years when only 1 player makes it into the Final and -$6,800,I think in my opinion, is the biggest deficit score at the end of Double Jeopardy! that I’ve ever seen.
Oh my goodness, I’ve never seen a Single Player Final Jeopardy!
Folks,
I just have to ask because the wife and I are having a “Final Jeopardy” contest for this season. We are neck and neck so far…unbelievable because she is smarter than me.
So here goes: one of us answered “social security.”
Is this a proper answer, or does the word “Administration” have to be in the mix for the ‘win’?
Thank you for any help you may give.
Michael.
I would say that Social Security counts without using Administration in the answer.
Social Security would have been just fine.
I vote that just “What is Social Security?” would have been fine, too.
no the answer should have administration. without it would be a wrong answer.
The agency is the Social Security Administration, or SSA. Social Security is the name of what the SSA gives out.
That’s a factual error there; I would *think* that it would be wrong, in your case.
Although you have a point that Social Security is the name of what SSA gives out, people often call the SSA just Social Security in many situations.
If you have to call them up, you say I have to call Social Security. If you were telling someone that that the SSA was an independent agency, you might just say Social Security etc.
So I still think it would be acceptable on the show. I wonder if there’s any way to find out from the show.
What was this? Just when you think you’ve seen it all! At any rate, congrats Kristin! You are a beautiful young lady. Keep that positive attitude going. We need more of it in the world today. 😉 😉
incredible…a win despite the 2 wrong dd answers….. and no clue about one of the most important institutions in the usa… conveniently there was nobody left to challenge her in fj and yesterday’s “directors” category also helped a lot.
did alex finally mention her husband? show does not start here for another 2 hours.
no, he didn’t mention her husband today, but she left you a reply on yesterday’s game
Oh did she ever leave a reply! John you’re busted! The commercials here on the east coast mention her husband when promoting the show. I think vj said she saw one in TX.
Yep, I saw the commercial yesterday
funny though that alex did not mention it. normally he can’t crow enough when a relative, friend or spouse of a former player (especially when that player was very successful) appears on the program. about coaching, psychological tips etc etc. i am just surprised that he has not even hinted at it at all. not the way alex usually “promotes” interaction between players. he normally hardly misses a chance to point out even the slightest connection between current and former players. just strikes me as odd, just a gut feeling.