Final Jeopardy: European Borders (5-28-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (5/28/2021) in the category “European Borders” was:
It’s still there, but none of the countries that bordered this country at the beginning of 1990 exist anymore
Today is the last game of the Tournament of Champions. The players are: 4x champ Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, a librarian from Portland, OR; 8x champ Jennifer Quail, a wine tasting consultant from Dowagiac, MI; and 5x champ Sam Kavanaugh, a teacher orig. from Carlton, MN.
SHOUTOUT TO BUZZY: They couldn’t have chosen a better host for the Tournament of Champions nor will they find a better choice for permanent host. You’re the best!
Round 1 Categories: Geography – Philharmonic Convergence – That’s Garbage! – Classic Toys & Games – Imbiber’s Lexicon – On the “House”
Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Geography” under the $600 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in second with $2,000, $600 less than Jennifer’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
You can give us either the French or English name of this African country whose legislative capital is Yamoussoukro show
Sam finished in the lead with $6,600. Jennifer was second with $6,400 and Veronica was last with $3,200. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: The 18th Century – Movies about the Movies – Nonfiction – Keeping up with the Joans – Math Champs – 10-Letter Words
Jennifer found the first Daily Double in “The 18th Century” under the $2,000 clue on the 5th pick. She was in the lead with $10,400 now, $3,800 more than Sam in second place. She bet $2,200 and she was RIGHT.
The Rev. William Tennent, pastor of Freehold, N.J., helped launch this “Great” religious revival show
Sam got the last Daily Double in “Math Champs” under the $1,200 clue on the 13th pick. In second place with $7,800, he had $6,000 less than Jennifer’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Also known as Leonardo of Pisa, he knew a lot of numbers, not just 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 show
Sam finished in the lead with $20,400. Jennifer was next with $19,000 and Veronica was in third place with $9,200. No clues went uncovered.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
On the date given in the clue, Poland was bordered by East Germany, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union. (old map) Between October 1990 and January 1993, East and West Germany reunified, the Soviet Union split into a number of other countries and Czechoslovakia split into 2 separate countries.
Poland is now bordered by Germany to the west, Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, and to the south, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. (current map)
Veronica came up with Albania. That cost her nothing so her score today was $9,200. Her $6,400 from yesterday brought her up to $15,600.
Jennifer got it right. She bet $8,500 and finished with $27,500 today. Her $14,500 from yesterday brought her up to $42,000.
Sam wrote down Hungary. He lost his $12 bet and finished with $20,388 today. His final score after adding in yesterday’s $38,000 came to $58,388. Sam Kavanaugh is the winner of the 2021 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
Sam wins the grand prize of $250,000. Jennifer wins $100,000 and Veronica wins $50,000. Jeopardy! will be donating $250,000 to the Hope of the Valley Trebek Center for the Homeless.
A triple stumper from each round:
PHILHARMONIC CONVERGENCE ($1000) Featuring works like the “Emperor” concerto, in 2020-’21 the London Philharmonic honors this composer’s 250th birthday
MOVIES ABOUT THE MOVIES ($800) In 2020’s “Mank”, about the writing of “Citizen Kane”, Amanda Seyfried plays this actress
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Around the USA”
Astronomy buffs visit Idaho for the USA’s first dark sky reserve; oddly, part of it is this resort area with a bright name show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS OR COMPLAINTS REGARDING GUEST HOSTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
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THe questions seem to be coming at a fast rate, with more multiple parts to the questions. I hope this is only an aspect of the Tournament of Chanpions, and not the regular shows. It is less interesting for the audience when it is hard to keep up with the pace of questions.
You get ONE chance at winning $250K. Jennifer had the brass ring dangled in front of her on that DD, and she didn’t grab it. Unless the 18th Century category scared her, she should have bet her entire bankroll on that DD instead of $2200. Along the same lines, Sam should have protected his overall lead and bet $10 instead of his entire $7800 on the ensuing DD. He was very fortunate to have answered correctly. JQ made a $150K mistake, but she’s probably content with what she won.
Congrats to Sam and all of the players!
I was hoping a woman would win the trophy this time around. Jennifer was given a chance today to possibly beat Sam, had she been more daring in her DD and FJ bets. Oh, well. Great game, and congrats to Sam.
Cece, yep Sam is a deserving champion. He was so humble and showed his opponents such respect imo in his interaction with them upon winning. They appeared to be happy that he won. Good final.
I was thinking about you when all the press releases came out on the Internet after the east coast airings were over. The west coast people hadn’t seen the show yet. So unfair.
Jacob, I agree with you about sam— a mensch, like a friend of mine would say.
Yeah, I try to stay away from the press release on the Internet whenever I really want to watch a Jeopardy game and don’t want to know the results. True, very unfair.
i believe you are correct. If jennifer bet everything on the DD and Final then she would have won the TOC. Maybe jennifer was playing for second place money as she was so far behind going into the second game. After all 100k is better than 50k.
How come Denmark isn’t also a correct answer for FJ?
Take a look at the old map, Jason. Only West Germany bordered Denmark prior to the reunification. If Denmark was a possibility, the clue would have to refer to a country, and not to countries.
Then they should have written the clue better. “This” and “these” is just semantics. There are two countries that border those defunct countries. Therefore, both should be acceptable. This is yet another example of how poorly written many of the clues have been recently. Especially in the case of a TOC FJ, there should be one and only one right answer if that’s what’s asked.
I actually thought you had a point, but after a bit of research, it looks like “West Germany” was just the popular English name of the “Federal Republic of Germany”. As part of the reunification of Germany, the “Federal Republic of Germany” was maintained, with East Germany (“German Democratic Republic”) being integrated in, at which point the “Federal Republic of Germany” just went by “Germany” again.
In other words, the country referred to by the name “West Germany” did exist before, during, and after 1990.
For that reason, I think the clue is fine as written, technically speaking, but I think that could have chosen a clue for the ToC that wouldn’t have any doubt attached to it, as you alluded to.
Excellent research, JP!
I’m trying to figure out why Denmark as a possibility is even being discussed. None of the contestants wrote it down so no one was penalized based upon a Denmark response.
I agree with you, it should be. If someone asked you to list all the countries that border Denmark, the correct answer would be Germany. If you said “well, actually, since there’s only one country that borders Denmark, there is no answer.” None in f the countries that bordered Denmark in 1990 exist anymore. Either that or Poland should both be acceptable.
I accidentally left out “it would be wrong” after my hypothetical answer about refusing to list any countries that border Denmark on the grounds that there is only one, just to be clear.
This was so sad TOC as first without the uber-wonderful Alex Trebek as the incomparable host. Glad that JEOPARDY! is donating matching amounts of winnings to various charities including one for homeless inn CA named to honor Alex Trebek. I agree that Buzzy Cohen. I look forward to seeing vegan Jewish scientist (and actor) Dr. Mayim Bialik as the guest host for next fortnight.
Buzzy did a great job. Good energy, nice voice, smart. I love how he gives more info on the answers. Not self conscious when the camera is on him as some guests were.
Bit of a quirky look to this old lady and I think he is just right for the times.
I definitely agree with the ‘Shoutout to Buzzy’. They certainly can’t find a better permanent host. He checks *all* the boxes. I hope he gets it.
Very entertaining TOC.
Congratulations to Sam on winning the tournament of champions. Buzzy has done a fantastic job hosting the tournament. We also Congratulate veronica and Jennifer for making it to the finals. They all played beautifully. Especially the remaining contestants. I didn’t fall for the Albania trap and went to the obvious choice of Poland. Vj I hope you enjoyed this tournament. Next week is back to Amanda trying to score a fourth win. Mayim bialik is guest hosting next week.
The only country that borders Denmark is Germany. If we’re including maritime borders, Denmark has more, but one of those is Poland. So if Poland is a correct answer, doesn’t Denmark have to be as well?
Congratulations, Sam.
That’s good.