Final Jeopardy: Bestselling Novels (7-10-19)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/10/2019) in the category “Bestselling Novels” was:

For help with research, the author of this 2003 novel acknowledged the Louvre, Catholic World News & “five members of Opus Dei”

4x champ Ryan Bilger, a student from Macungie, PA, has now won $107,049. In Game 5, his challengers are: Sam Kavanaugh, a teacher from Minneapolis, MN; and Margaret Hamilton, a retired air traffic controller from Sebring, FL.

Round 1 Categories: History, Over on the Left -State Mottoes- Mnemonics -“Aint”, Necessarily So -Literature -An Album Cover

Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Album Cover” under the $800 clue, with 7 clues left after it. He was in second place with $5,000, $1,000 less than Ryan’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

A 1969 cover featuring the Hindenburg disaster was this band’s visual introduction to the world. show

WHO IS LED ZEPPELIN?

Sam finished in the lead with $10,200. Ryan was second with $8,200 and Margaret was last with $2,000.

Round 2 Categories: Ancient Egypt -Prison Nicknames -Science News -Never Won an Emmy -The Nuclear Powers – The Body Part Within

Sam found the first Daily Double in “Ancient Egypt” under the $1,600 clue on the 8th pick. He was in the lead with $12,200 at this point, $1,600 more than Ryan in second place. He bet $6,000 and he was RIGHT.

The United Nations displays a replica of one of the oldest of these, signed by Egyptians & Hittites. show

WHAT IS A TREATY?

Sam found the last Daily Double in “Nuclear Powers” under the $1,600 clue on the 13th pick. In the lead with $19,000 now, he had $6,000 more than Ryan in second place. He bet $5,000 and he was RIGHT.

A.Q. Khan of this nuclear country reportedly helped build North Korea’s & Libya’s atomic programs. show

WHAT IS PAKISTAN?

Sam finished in the lead with $23,200. Ryan was next with $19,000 and Margaret was in third place with $3,600.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS “THE DA VINCI CODE”?

If you do a search on J-Archive for “Da Vinci Code”, you’ll come up with over 50 clues. Besides the Louvre and Opus Dei, such clues may mention the author, the main character (Professor Robert Langdon), Mary Magdalene, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. This list of 2003 Fiction Best-Sellers on Wikipedia will show you just how popular Dan Brown’s novel was that year.

The “Da Vinci Code” was adapted to the big screen in 2006 with a screenplay written by Avika Goldsman. It was directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks as Langdon and Paul Bettany as the evil Opus Dei monk, Silas.

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Margaret bet $3,000 and finished with $6,600.

Ryan bet $4,300 on the chance that Sam would be wrong (and I’m sure those hopes were dashed when he saw the clue). That brought Ryan up $23,300.

Sam bet a big $14,801 and won the game with $38,001. Sam Kavanaugh is the new Jeopardy! champ.

A triple stumper from each round:

MNEMONICS ($800) It has atomic number 19, it’s essential to life, but how to spell it? Oh yeah, “one tea, 2 sugars”

PRISON NICKNAMES ($2000) The first print reference to “the joint” as prison was in this beat author’s 1953 novel “Junkie”

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “World Leaders”

A landmark 1957 N.Y. Times story called him “a powerful six-footer, olive-skinned… with a straggly beard” show

WHO IS FIDEL CASTRO?

Click here to leave well wishes and prayers for Alex Trebek. There’s also a link to where you can make a donation to pancreatic cancer research in his honor.