Final Jeopardy: World Leaders (7-12-17)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/12/2017) in the category “World Leaders” was:

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

New champ Kelly Lasiter won $22,800 yesterday. In her second game, her challengers are: Mary-Jane Whitaker, from Toronto, ONT, Canada; and Gavin Borchert, from Seattle, WA.

Round 1 Categories: Where Am I? – Big & Small Screen Doctors – Thoreau-ing a 200th Birthday! – A Podcast of Characters – Give Me 5 “CC”S – Stat!

Kelly found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Thoreau-ing” under the $800 clue, with 4 clues left after it worth $2,400. She was in third place with $1,800, $3,600 less than Sara-Jane’s lead. She made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.

Thoreau was a protege of this thinker & lived at his home, acting as handyman & gardener. show

WHO IS RALPH WALDO EMERSON?

Sara-Jane finished in the lead with $5,400. Kelly was second with $2,600 and Gavin was last with $1,800.

Round 2 Categories: The Pittsburgh Address – Geog. Dict. Abbrev. – Turn on Your Heavy Metal Defector – Hodgepodge – Kaboom! – Biblical Before & After

Sara-Jane found the first Daily Double in “Kaboom!” under the $1,600 clue with 5 clues to go. She was in second place with $8,200 at this point, $4,400 less than Gavin’s lead. She bet $1,500 and took a guess with demolition. That was WRONG.

The National Demolition Assoc. says this process of collapsing a building “is the most visible face” of the industry. show

WHAT IS IMPLOSION?

3 clues later, Sara-Jane found the last Daily Double in “Pittsburgh Address” under the $1,200 clue. Only the last 2 clues in this category were left after it. In second place with $8,700, she now had $5,900 less than Gavin’s lead. She bet $1,500 again, and thought it was coal. That was WRONG.

In a 1983 Pittsburg speech, Ronald Reagan spoke about frustrated & “permanently laid-off” workers in this industry. show

WHAT IS STEEL?

Gavin finished in the lead with $14,600. Kelly was next with $8,600 and Sara-Jane was in third place with $7,200.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS FIDEL CASTRO?

In 1957, while Cuban president Fulgencio Batista was publicly claiming that Fidel Castro was dead, the very much alive leader of the Cuban Revolution arranged an interview with NY Times reporter Herbert Matthews, at his hideout in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Matthew wrote a series of 3 articles for the NYT portraying the future Cuban dictator as a romantic rebel and hero who was anti-Communist and wanted to bring democracy to the Cuban people. The quote in the clue comes from the first article: “Taking him, as one would at first, by physique and personality, this was quite a man – a powerful six-footer, olive-skinned, full-faced, with a straggly beard.”

One account of how Castro duped Matthews into promoting his cause is in Chapter 14 of Georgie Ann Geyer’s book, “Guerilla Prince.”

Sara-Jane bet it all and finished with $14,400.

Kelly got it right after crossing out Stalin. Her $5,800 bet put her in a tie with Sara-Jane.

Gavin bet $5,000 and won the match with $19,600 and, for the 3rd day in a row, we have a new Jeopardy! champ.

Kelly got the second-place $2,000 prize because she was ahead of Sara-Jane going into FJ!

A triple stumper from each round:

A PODCAST OF CHARACTERS ($600) 80 years old, this former “Face the Nation” host is trying a new format with a podcast “About the News”

THE PITTSBURGH ADDRESS ($1600) “You want to look back and say ‘I did the best I could'”, this Pitt grad & HOF Dolphins QB said at the 2008 commencement

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

On the completion of this in 1937, its chief engineer wrote, “At last the mighty task is done; resplendent in the western sun.” show

WHAT IS THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE?

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