Final Jeopardy: Southern Africa (5-25-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (5/25/2026) in the category “Southern Africa” was:
Called the “Calendar Lake” because it’s about 365 miles long & 52 miles wide, it shares its name with a country
3x champ Chris D’Angelo, a content manager from Washington, D.C., won $53,600 last week. In Game 4, he’s up against: Veronica Matthews, an after school science instructor orig. from Martinez, CA; and Jack Kelly, a Ph.D. student from Cambridge, MA.
Round 1 Categories: “C”, the City – Bestsellers – In Stitches – Picture the Film – Things People Say – Red, Red Wine
Chris found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “‘C’, the City” under the $800 on the 2nd pick of the round. He was the only one on the board with $600. Chris bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
In northern Mexico, a capital city, a state & a desert all have this name show
Chris finished in the lead with $8,600. Jack was in second place with $1,400 and Veronica was last with $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Public Health Firsts – Coastal TV – The Bible – Acronyms & Initialisms – Putting on the “ris” – Red, Red Whine
Chris got the first Daily Double in “The Bible” under the $1,600 clue on the 5th pick. He was in the lead with $10,600 now, $8,800 more than Jack in second place. Chris bet $4,400 and he was RIGHT.
This book whose name means “expressions of sorrow” is read on the ninth of Av, a Jewish observance marking the temples’ destruction show
Chris got the last Daily Double in “Acronyms & Initialisms” under the $1,600 clue on the 8th pick of the round. In the lead with $16,200, he had $14,400 more than Jack in second place. Chris bet $3,800 and he was RIGHT.
Haribo, maker of those yummy gummi candies is an acronym for its founder, Hans Riefel of this German city show
Chris finished in the lead with $25,200. Jack was in second place with $7,000. Veronica was last with $4,000. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS LAKE MALAWI
According to Afrikanza.com, Calendar Lake is one of the nicknames for Lake Malawi because it is some 365 miles north to south and 52 miles across. It is the 8th largest lake in the world, and the 2nd deepest lake in Africa. Some sites say it is fed by 12 perennial rivers. This site says 14 and it also says that David Livingstone “discovered” it around 150 years ago. (They ought to come up with a different name for discoveries that were there the whole time!)
You can learn a lot more from Lake Malawi Explained on YouTube, including how to make Kunga cakes from midge flies, which David Livingstone allegedly compared to caviar.
Veronica thought it might be Namibia. She lost $00,000 and finished with $3,269.
Jack got it right. His $00,000 bet brought him up to $8,001.
Chris got it right, too. He bet $00,000 and won the game with $30,000 for a 4-day total is $83,600.
A triple stumper from each round:
BESTSELLERS ($1000) This Charles Frazier novel tells of Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier who takes a long walk home to his beloved
COASTAL TV ($2000) The sitcom “Best Medicine” with Josh Charles as Martin Best newly moved to coastal Maine is based on this British show
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “FEMALE SINGERS”
In December 2023 she became the oldest solo artist, at 78, to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with a song she recorded in 1958 show
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Competent challengers, but failing to find a DD gave them no chance of winning. First one was easy. I should have known the 3rd because my grandfather was born there. Never heard of that FJ lake. I said Tanganyika even though that’s no longer a country. Crashed on all the stumpers too, but somehow knew the $1000 clues that weren’t stumpers.
It was another fabulous game, but hardly a competitive one since it was yet another clear runaway for Chris. As for FJ, I never heard of Lake Malawi. Well, for lack of anything better, I went with Lake Victoria (although I knew that wasn’t going to fly no how).
By the way, labeling Lake Malawi as the “calendar lake” is a misnomer since the lake is considerably less than 365 miles long.
Happy Memorial Day VJ! Chris became the fourth giant killer to win his fourth game after defeating a super-champion.
Happy Memorial Day, Kevin!
I saw this meme on Facebook for the first time a couple of years ago. It’s at least worth thinking about:
“Please stop saying Happy Memorial Day.
Memorial Day was never meant to celebrate the living.
Not veterans. Not active military. Not military spouses. It’s a day to remember the men and women who died serving this country.
The ones who didn’t get to come home.”