Final Jeopardy: 20th Century Novels (3-16-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/16/2026) in the category “20th Century Novels” was:
One of its epigraphs is from Genesis 30, about Leah, Rachel & Rachel’s servant Bilhah
New champ Jamie Ding, a bureaucrat & law student from Lawrenceville, NJ won $22,633 last Friday. In Game 2, he is up against: Shannon Thomas, a nonprofit professional from Philadelphia, PA; and Andrew Ford, data scientist from Madison, WI.
Round 1 Categories: And the Winner is… – The Great British Spelling Show – We Have Something in Common – Board Games – Tech History – Grim Goose & Grimm
Andrew found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Board Games” under the $600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. He was the only one on the board with $2,400. Andrew made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
The times they were a-changin: by 1999, Hasbro changed this game’s pink-&-blue-peg-holding station wagons to minivans show
Jamie finished in the lead with $8,400. Andrew was in second place with $5,600. Shannon was last with $1,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Historic Statements – That “Being” the Title – Landlocked! – A Real Work of Art – Pop Culture Rhyme Time – Habits Unbecoming
Jamie found the first Daily Double in “Historic Statements” under the $1,600 clue on the 5th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $11,200 now, $4,800 more than Andrew in second place. Jamie bet $3,600 and he was RIGHT.
According to Suetonius, Caesar uttered this phrase as he took a big gamble & crossed the Rubicon show
Andrew got the last Daily Double in “Habits Unbecoming” under the $1,200 clue on the 11th pick of the round. In second place with $10,000, he had $7,200 less than Jamie’s lead. Andrew bet $8,000 and didn’t know it so he was WRONG.
Add 2 letters to a word for “loitering” to get this word for faking an illness to get out of work show
After that, Andrew and Shannon appeared to give up and were not heard from again until it was far too late to matter. Jamie finished in the lead with a runaway $34,000. Andrew was in second place with $1,600. Shannon was last with negative $800 and out of the game. All clues were shown.
NEITHER contestant left in Final Jeopardy! got it right.
WHAT IS “THE HANDMAID’S TALE”?
Margaret Atwood prefaced her 1987 dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” with 3 epigraphs. The first is the one from Genesis referenced in the clue. Leah and Rachel are sisters, 2 wives of Jacob. Unlike Leah, Rachel can’t have children so she demands that Jacob use her maid, Bilhah, as a surrogate. This is what’s going on in Atwood’s novel when women are forced into surrogacy at the Rachel and Leah Center. Atwood used the KJV bible to quote Genesis:1-3. Bilhah is called a “maid” in KJV, but a “servant” or a “slave girl” in others.
More on epigraphs: Erin K. Larson-Burnett explains the importance of epigraphs, sharing quite a few, including the 3 from “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
Andrew thought it was Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” (1987). He lost $718 and finished with $882.
Jamie thought it was “Song of Solomon” (1977), also by Morrison. That cost him $30,067 and left him with $3,933. My goodness! Easy come, easy go is all we can say. Jamie still won the game and his 2-day total is $26,566.
2 triple stumpers from A REAL WORK OF ART:
($400) Who else but this Spaniard could have served up 1951’s “Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon”?
($1200) A Rubens painted for Antwerp and now in the Prado is one of the great works called this, adulation by wise men, you might say
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “EURASIA”
Zvartnots International Airport serves this capital & has the code EVN, all letters found in the city’s name show
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This would have been a 64,000 payday if not for a tough final. Jamie’s final bet of 30,067 is the largest since Matt Amodio bet 37,000 on 10/4/21 and the largest amount lost in regular play since Matt Amodio lost since Amodio lost 34,000 on 8/9/21. The record for money lost in one FJ! in regular play is held by Amodio, 37,000 on 8/4/21. The record for largest wager on an incorrect response is 44,000 set by James Holzhauer in the final game of GOAT tournament since 2020. The good news for Jamie is that he is a 2 day champion and we’ll see if he has the luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow.
I hope the Luck of the Irish is on Jamie’s side tomorrow. The $34,000 loss happened on my birthday, and when the Season 37 Finale week aired on that day, I was hoping that it would be a great final week for a season that I called it an “Empty Season”. Instead, we got 2 times where Matt Amodio had bad luck with whatever coin he was flipping, and overall, a disappointing week for FJ!. Hopefully, things will get better from here.