Final Jeopardy: Acting Families (3-24-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/24/2025) in the category “Acting Families” was:
After leaving a religious group, John & Arlyn Bottom changed their family’s last name to this, to signify a rebirth
New champ Josh Weikert, a politics professor from Collegeville, PA, won $23,601 last Friday. In Game 2, he takes on these two players: Mustafa Hameed, an attorney from Los Angeles, CA; and Geraldine Rodriguez, an interlibrary loan asst. coordinator from Boca Raton, FL.
Round 1 Categories: TV Sleuthing – The Late 1940s – A Site for More Eyes – 10-letter Words – Cybersecurity – Also a Musical Instrument
Josh found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Late 1940s” under the $600 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. After everyone was stumped by the previous clues in the same category, nobody had a nickel. Josh bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
The Vatican said Pope Pius XII was guarding the newly found bones of this man, Pius’ predecessor minus 259 other guys show
Josh finished in the lead with $6,800. Mustafa was second with $5,200 and Geraldine was last with $2,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Abbrev. – Bills of Mortality for 17th C. London – Twin “C”s – American Poetry – The Arctic – Johnny on the Axe
Geraldine found the first Daily Double in “Bills of Mortality for 17th C. London” under the $1,200 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. She was in second place with $4,200, $2,600 less than Josh and Mustafa’s tied lead. Geraldine bet it all and thought it was fire. That was WRONG.
In 1664 deaths from this one word were 6; in 1665, 68,596 show
Josh found the last Daily Double in “Twin ‘C’s” under the $1,600 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $13,600, $4,000 more than Mustafa in second place. Josh bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
It’s a genus of succulents, like the Spanish bayonet or the Joshua Tree show
Josh finished in the lead with $21,800. Mustafa was second with $17,200 after a reversal in his favor (see below). Geraldine was last with $3,200. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS PHOENIX?
John Lee Bottom and his wife, Arlyn, were hippies in the 1970s. They had 2 kids before joining the religious cult, The Children of God: River (1970-1993) and Rain (b. 1972). They had 2 more before leaving the cult in 1977: Joaquin (b. 1974) and Liberty (b. 1976). Summer (b. 1978), their 5th and last child, was born in Florida.
After Summer’s birth, the couple chose to legally change the family surname to Phoenix, the mythological bird that symbolizes rebirth or renewal because it rises from the ashes of its predecessor. River and Joaquin are the most well-known of the Phoenix siblings. They hold a Guinness World Record as the first brothers to be nominated for acting Oscars.
Geraldine got it right. She bet it all and doubled her score to $6,400.
Mustafa went with the Barrymores. That cost him $10,000 and left him with $7,200.
Josh wrote down Newman. He lost $12,601 but won the game with $9,199. That gives Josh a 2-day total of $32,800 and a return ticket to tomorrow’s game.
Reversal: ABBREV. ($2000) AED is short for this life-saving device Mustafa’s automated / automatic electronic defibrillator was rejected. (He changed to automatic before time was up.) Ken wanted external for the second word. The judges said both of Mustafa’s responses were good so his score went up 4,000 bucks at the end of Double Jeopardy!
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
AMERICAN POETRY ($800) Poems by him include “Crowing Hen Blues”, “Po’ Boy Blues” & “The Weary Blues”
JOHNNY ON THE AXE ($1200) Mocked by fans as “Johnny Salami”, he more than holds his own shredding on the guitar with Dead & Company
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “CHEMICAL NAMES”
The name of this pungent gaseous compound is ultimately derived from the top god of the ancient Egyptians show
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Mustafa, after that generous late reversal, totally blew it. $4601 was the smart wager. It totally locked out Geraldine, and the only way he’d win was for Josh to miss and bet the likely $12601. He didn’t even have to get FJ right. As for Geraldine, she rushed her response to the easy Mortality DD, and probably could have come out a champion.
Barrymore came to mind for Final and I gave it no further thought. The “minus” part of the first DD threw me off. Third DD was easy. Knew the Johnny stumper but not from the Salami clue, just the Dead & Co portion. The Trygve Lie stumper was gettable if you saw the “junior” and associated it with NYC.
I was 2/3 on DD, and got FJ. I’m my mind, while waiting for the show to come back from commercial, I thought “Barrymore” (with Ethel, “the Great Profile”, and the ilk), but, when the clue came up, knew that wasn’t it. Took a moment, but got the result. I recalled the parents had been part of a cult.
It’s too bad on that DD miss by Geraldine. Also, too smart for her own good, in re: bear. But, being a research librarian, the .bf extension was easy peasy for her!
Well, I started out slow in the game, but began picking up steam. Actually, I performed a tad above average, but missed the FJ. IMHO, that was one tough FJ.