Final Jeopardy: Historic Names (6-13-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (6/13/2025) in the category “Historic Names” was:
Some 200 years after her birth, she was awarded the rank of General in Maryland’s National Guard on veterans day 2024
3x champ Matt Massie, an attorney orig. from South Charleston, WV, has racked up $79,800 since Tuesday. In Game 4, he competes against: Katie Kornacki, a professor of English from Hartford, CT; and Kelly Cui, a student from Cambridge, MA.
Round 1 Categories: Places in World History – Book Tours – When I Grow Up I Want to Be… – Die Hard – Describing the Olympic Event – Fin”al” Words
Matt found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Places in World History” under the $1,000 on the 1st pick of the round. Nobody had a nickel. Matt bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
After an 1885 siege, the Mahdists slaughtered the British defenders of this city at the junction of the Blue & White Niles show
Matt finished in the lead with $6,400. Kelly was second with $4,600 and Katie was last with $4,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Jamaica – Movie Sequels – Complete the Quote – Bloom County – Opus – Bill the Cat
Matt found the first Daily Double in “Opus” under the $1,200 clue on the 15th pick of the round. He was in second place with $6,800, $600 less than Katie’s lead. Matt bet $1,000 and tried polonaise. That was WRONG (because that’s a dance & Chopin doesn’t always = something Polish).
Chopin’s Opus 57 is a berceuse, a word for this type of song, thought to be inspired by a little girl named Louisette Viardot show
Kelly found the last Daily Double in “Bloom County” under the $1,200 clue on the 17th pick of the round. She was in second place with $6,200, $1,200 less than Katie’s lead. Kelly bet $1,400 and ran out of time. That was WRONG.
Flowers of the star-of-this mideastern city bloom in May, not around Christmas show
Matt finished in the lead with $9,400. Katie was next with
$9,000 when a last minute reversal of $1,600 (see below) put her in the lead with $10,600. Matt dropped to second place and Kelly was last with $5,200. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS HARRIET TUBMAN?
On Veterans Day in 2024, Harriet Tubman was commissioned as a brigadier general by the Maryland National Guard. The ceremony took place in Church Creek at Stop #14 on the Tubman Byway. The posthumous commission gave formal recognition to Tubman’s many contributions to the Union during the Civil War as a spy, a scout, nurse and cook, although it’s shame it took more than a century after she passed away in 1913.
The Harriet Tubman Byway stretches some 125 miles from Dorchester on Maryland’s Eastern Shore through Delaware and into Pennsylvania. There are more than 30 sites along the route that show where Tubman lived, worked, and led enslaved people to freedom.
Kelly thought it was Clara Barton. She lost her $5,199 bet and finished with $1.00.
Matt got it right. He bet it all and doubled his score to $18,800.
Katie also got it right. She bet $9,400 and won the game with $20,000. Katie Kornacki is the new Jeopardy! champ.
Reversal: JAMAICA ($800) In 1958 Jamaica joined with several other Caribbean countries in forming the W.I.F., this regional “Federation” – Katie got dinged for “West Indian” and Matt got what Ken was looking for with “West Indies”. The judges okayed Katie’s response and, at the most inconvenient time for Matt, she got back the $800 she lost plus $800 for being right.
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
BLOOM COUNTY ($2000) Bearing flowers in late fall, this 2-word shrub of the Eastern U.S. with yellow, twisted petals casts a spell against inflammation
OPUS ($2000) This French composer with a hyphenated name loved to travel to North Africa, as heard in his Opus 60, “Suite Algerienne”
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY”
Native Americans called it Okwa-ta, or “wide water”; Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville would rename it for a countryman show
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So, the new champ, her brother is the numbers guy political reporter, Steve Kornacki.
0-3 on DD, but got FJ, as a guess more than anything.
And, not for nothing, but, if I notice how many TS, that means there’s a LOT.
Close game that Katie won only because of the reversal. At first I thought she was robbed, then I said no, it has to be precise, since it’s a name or a title, but ultimately she got credit. Even though it may have cost him a future ToC trip, Matt was very gracious in defeat and applauded her enthusiastically.
DDs killed me, but 1824 DOB and Maryland led me to Civil War and Harriet Tubman fairly quickly.
Too many stumpers. Some I thought were simple, some not: French hyphenated composer; 9.58 second Olympic event (come on); aluminum ore. Not sure if I’d have gotten credit for the CT scan, as my “C” word was slightly different than the one they gave. Probably not.
Wow, there were sure plenty of missed clues in today’s game, but Katie emerged as the new Jeopardy champion.. Well, I sure didn’t do well in today’s game, and didn’t have much of a clue for the FJ response.
That reversal means that we still can’t catch a break this season.
Wow, rough game even though it started out with only 2 stumpers in the first round!
I got that Chopin Opus DD from the word “berceuse” because of a French Christmas carol, “Un Flambeau Jeannette Isabella”, which has the line “Courons au berceau” – let’s run to the cradle.
Ken misspoke when he said it was named after a little girl.