Final Jeopardy: Geographic History (5-6-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (5/6/2026) in the category “Geographic History” was:
About 10,000 sq. miles, this region was the subject of a 19th century war, declared independence in 1917, reorganized in 1921 & is under dispute to this day
New champ Shannon Crisenbery, a data annotator from St. Clair, MI, won $38,400 yesterday. In Game 2, she’s up against: Tristan Williams, a data scientist orig. from Lincoln, NE; and Lauren Black, a sales assistant orig. from San Jose, CA.
Round 1 Categories: Big Business – 4-Syllable Words – Sports Nicknames – The Great State of… – We Love Islands – I Got A Text!
Tristan found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Big Business” under the $1,000 clue on the 11th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $5,200, $4,600 more than Shannon in second place. Tristan bet $4,000 and guessed Mitsubishi. That was WRONG.
Though this company has made billions of galaxies, its name is Korean for just “3 stars” show
Tristan finished in the lead with $3,400. Shannon was in second place with $2,600 and Lauren was last with negative $800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Positively Prefixed – It’s Simple Physics – 5 by 5 – 1840s America – Silence – Celebrity Bird Collective Nouns
Tristan got the first Daily Double in “1840s America” under the $1,200 clue on the 4th pick. He was in the lead with $5,000 now, $2,400 more than Shannon in second place. Tristan bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
In Nov. 1842 Father Edward Sorin & friends took possession of 500 acres of snow in Indiana, the start of this school show
On the very next pick, Tristan got the last Daily Double in “Simple Physics” under the $1,600 clue, for 3 consecutive days of back-to-back DDs in this round. In the lead with $9,000 now, he had $6,400 more than Shannon in second place. Tristan bet $5,000 and guessed magnetic attraction. That was WRONG.
This type of attraction isn’t limited to iron from which its name is derived; it also applies to nickel & cobalt show
Tristan finished in the lead with a runaway $20,400. Shannon was in second place with $7,400. Lauren was last with negative $800 and out of the game at this point. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS CRIMEA?
I looked at a lot of timelines to simplify the changes Crimea went through from the 19th century Crimean War until today, but most of them, like this one, don’t even mention the short-lived 1917-18 Crimean People’s Republic, maybe because it only lasted 2 months! After further independence attempts failed, Crimea was reorganized as an autonomous administrative unit of Russia in 1921. In 1954, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea to Ukraine, a controversial move that has played no small part in the continuing disputes over the region.
Timelines don’t go into the whys and wherefores too much, but Crimea’s Past and Its Postwar Future explains why control of Crimea is so important.
Shannon got it right. She bet it all and doubled her score to $14,800.
Tristan had no response. He only lost $400 so he won the game with $20,000. Tristan Williams is the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
I GOT A TEXT! ($800) In the tale where he “strikes it rich”, he says “Don’t go smacking your lips before you’ve tasted the pudding, Golde, my darling”,
1840s AMERICA ($1600) Massively unpopular, he faced the threat of impeachment over his veto of a national bank bill
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “RHYME TIME: OPERA VERSION”
Telling the story of a duke, a jester & the jester’s daughter, it was written by poet Francesco Maria Piave show
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We sadly have to say goodbye to Lauren after her failure on the $800 It’s Simple Physics clue. She’ll get the 2,000 prize for a third place finish. I think it’s the first time with three days in a row with back-to-back Daily Doubles.