Final Jeopardy: Presidents (3-3-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (3/3/2014), in the category “Presidents” was:
He is the only 19th century president to serve 2 complete terms with the same vice president.
The Battle of the Decades continues with the 1990s and here are the first three players: Eddie Timanus, a 5x winner from Oakhill, Va; Babu Srinivasan, a 5x winner from Cypress, TX; and Rachael Schwartz, first female TOC winner, from Mountainview, CA.
Before beginning, Alex Trebek explained two accommodations were being made for Eddie, who is blind. Before each round, Eddie was given a card containing a list of the categories and a sound effect was added at the end of each clue, signaling when the clue was read in its entirety and it was safe to ring in. “Other than that,” Alex said, “He doesn’t need any help, believe me.”
Rachel found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Role in Common” under the $800 clue before the first break. She was in the lead with $800, $200 ahead of Eddie in second place. She bet $500 and guessed Henry Higgins. That was WRONG.
Sean Connery, Patrick Stewart and Richard Harris. show
Eddie finished in the lead with $2,400. Rachael was second with $1,700 and Babu was last with $1,200.
Rachael found the first Daily Double in “The Elements” under the $2,000 clue. She was in second place with $3,700, $7,500 less than Eddie’s lead. She bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT.
This element is named for a mythological king for whom food was always just out of reach. show
Rachael found the last Daily Double in “2014 Anniversaries” under the $1,200 clue. Still in second place, she had $9,500, $3,300 less than Eddie’s lead. “Tough questions,” she remarked and bet $1,000 again. She was RIGHT about the answer, but not about the clue.
Happy 400th anniversary to this interracial couple who tied the knot in Jamestown. show
Eddie finished in the lead with $14,400. Rachael was next with $10,500 and Babu was in third place with $2,000.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
There have been 8 Vice Presidents who served two full terms. John Adams did it in the 18th century before Monroe’s VP, Daniel D. Tompkins. The next VP to serve two full terms was Thomas Marshall under Woodrow Wilson in the 20th century. Learn lots of Cool Stuff about Vice Presidents
Babu wrote down U.S. Grant, who served 2 terms with different VPs. He bet everything and finished with nothing.
Rachael thought it was Grover Cleveland, 2 non-concurrent terms, different VPs. That cost her $2,600 and she finished with $7,900.
Eddie picked Andrew Jackson, who was without a VP for a part of his 2 terms. Eddie lost $6,700 so he ended up with $7,700, and that made Rachael Schwartz the first semi-finalist of the week.
VJ’s bet: I bet none of them would get FJ and I would have been truly astounded if anyone did, though let’s give them credit for at least coming up with 2-term presidents. Who studies VPs for Jeopardy? Just wondering if anyone could have given the VP’s name if they asked for it and gave Monroe in the clue.
2 years ago, 2 players got this FJ: Book Villains
The first time we meet this man in a 1981 novel, he’s in his cell holding ‘Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine’. show
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i don’t know if it’s just me, but i am somewhat disappointed by the “battles of the decades” so far. it sounded like a good idea in the beginning but so far the performance of the players is disappointing. maybe 20,30 years DO make a difference in questions and answers, it shows how fast some things change. sometimes what is a matter of course today did not even exist 30 years ago.
in any event, i could do without those tournaments and i believe the closest one – the winner of the 00 tournament- will win the whole thing because s/he will be closest to “today”. of course some things never change, but a lot do. if you get a dd in a “new” category or there is an entire category that was not even present way back….. anyway, i expected more.
nah, it’s not just you. And yes, I think all of us over 50 are not as quick on the draw as we were 20-30 years ago. Today (3/4/14 game), for instance, I knew the answer to the DD about Tycho Brahe — they just exhumed this guy a few years ago to determine if he was murdered (he wasn’t) — but I just could not come up with his name in the allotted time!
Arthur Chu has given some positive publicity for J!, but it’s kind of a shame his run happening when it gives a special week like this one special attention.
Good second place wagering on a TS for Rachael. All six people moving into the next round so far are TofC winners.