Final Jeopardy: Explorers (7-16-18)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/16/2018) in the category “Explorers” was:
In 1513 the son of a local chief told this man, when you cross the mountains, “You shall see another sea”
2x champ Michelle Cabral, an elem. school music teacher from Canada, has won $36,600 so far. In Game 3, her challengers are: Niraj Dhami, an I.T. project manager from California; and Rebecca Smith, a certified massage therapist from Minnesota.
Round 1 Categories: Double-Letter State Capitals – Movie Magic – 4, 4 – Birthday Party – Cake – The Bouncy Castle
Niraj found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Double-Letter State Capitals” under the $800 clue, with just the $1,000 clue in the same category left after it. He was in the lead with $6,800, $2,400 more than Rebecca in second place. He bet $3,200 and blanked out so he was WRONG.
Named for a president, it was laid out by Daniel M. Boone, son of the famous frontiersman. show
The round ended there with Rebecca in the lead at $4,400. Niraj was second with $3,600 and Michelle was last with $2,200.
Round 2 Categories: Design Across America – World War II Slang – George Washington Carver – It’s Always “Me”, “Me” – German Writers – Celebrity Possessives
Rebecca found the first Daily Double in “George Washington Carver” under the $1,200 clue, with 7 clues left after it. She was in second place with $11,200 at this point, $1,400 less than Michelle’s lead. She bet $3,000 and she was RIGHT.
Among his teachers, Carver counted James Wilson & Henry C Wallace, who went on to be Secretaries of this Department. show
Niraj found the last Daily Double in “German Writers” under the $1,600 clue, with 2 clues left after it worth $1,200 that we were not going to see. In third place with $6,800, he had $7,400 less than Michelle and Rebecca, tied for the lead. He bet $3,200 and took a guess with “Mousetrap.” That was WRONG.
E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale entitled this device “and the Mouse King” evolved into a popular ballet. show
Michelle and Rebecca finished in that tie for the lead with $14,200. Niraj was next with $3,600.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
There are a great many retellings of how Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes the chief is called the chief of Comogre and in others, his name is Comogre and he is the chief of Ponca. In some versions, Balboa stood on top of the mountain and claimed it for Spain. In others, he went down the mountain and waited for the tide to come in. However it happened, the recorded date is September 25, 1513.
The 500th anniversary was celebrated in 2013 and Franz Linz followed “In the Footsteps of Balboa” (for Smithsonian Magazine) in the company of Juan Carlos Navarro, a former mayor of Panama City. (It’s a long but rather interesting read, as the mayor explains why Balboa is loved throughout Latin America while Cortes and Pizarro are despised).
Niraj got it right. He bet $3,599 and that brought him up to $7,199.
Rebecca thought it was Cortes (from reading John Keats maybe?). She bet the farm and finished with nada.
Michelle came up with Jolliet. She lost $4,107, retaining $10,093 and the Jeopardy! champ title. Her 3-day total is $46,693.
A triple stumper from each round:
THE BOUNCY CASTLE ($600) Château Gaillard overlooks the Seine but it was built by this leonine ruler who lost it to the French in 1204
GERMAN WRITERS ($2000) In the drama “The Deputy”, Rolf Hochhuth accused the XII Pope of this name of tolerating Nazi policies
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “International Sports”
Established in 1903, this European event was originally touted in a newspaper printed on yellow paper. show
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i am not making this up in 06 I had a gall bladder removed and I was placed in a medically induced coma I think on November 1 on November 9 I woke up and was taken to a room where the guy beside was watching jeopardy the hospital staff wanted to know if I was aware and I got a few questions right that were of medium difficulty they said this guy is ok I spent the entire thinking I was in markham when in fact I was in Richmond hill Ontario not far away from michelles home town of Toronto Ontario.they have the bucks make third and second pay a bit better it has to be the most popular show on tv I don’t phone my sister around jeopardy time
Niraj, I start by saying: Darn those Daily Doubles.
Former champ Ryan Fenster will be on tomorrow. He got rooked on the ‘Great Schism’ question months ago and Jeopardy is doing the right thing by bringing Ryan back. I think Ryan will beat Michelle.
I don’t think so, @Albert. If that happens, then the curse would continue. Michelle could end that curse.
I agree,Albert !!
Today, Michelle Cabral, twice failed to formulate the answer as a question. Nobody noticed???? I’ve seen contestants lose because of that all the time
What’s the use of even bringing it up anymore? The explanation is that the judges can hear better than us whether the player said it or not and there’s also, the player said it real fast, or said it at the same time Alex was talking or part of it got edited out for some reason.
imho, they ought to cut the board down to 25 clues since they insist on having these long video categories and 5 cameramen to bring us loads of pictures. Then they ought to insist that the players audibly say “what is” or “who is” clearly instead of “ssss” 😀
@VJ
You are absolutely right. Would also cut down on clues not played. They can adjust the value of the clues to make up cutting down from 30 to 25 so that they come close to 6K/12K. or match it exactly. Every so often unplayed clues even have a DD and that can change the outcome of the entire game,so 1200 per category in J x 5 = 6K and 2400 per category in DJ=12K> They should be able to figure that out.
@VJ
I meant 3.600 per category in J x 5 = 18K and 7.200K per category in DJ x 5 = 36K, would come out to the same totals.
How about this:
J: DJ:
300 600
400 800
700 1400
1000 2000
1200 2400
Total 3.600 x 5 = 18 K Total 7.200 x5 = 36K
Same total game value and all clues could be played.
Michelle lost $4,107 and Rebecca lost everything on Balboa. Only Niraj got it right, even though he missed on the 2 DD. What a wild way to start the week.
I instantly thought this FJ would be a Triple Get. So sad the first European to look westward across the Pacific Ocean is not recognized by two of these contestants. I learned Balboa by the second half of fourth grade in early 1969 in Florida. One of my presentations in seventh grade Spanish dealt with explorers and conquistadors, including Balboa (a major seaport in Panama too) in 1970-1971. Sad and stunning FJ.
I never studied upon balboa in high school or middle school let alone learning about Columbus, da gama, cortez, de soto, Magellan and so forth. But still though Michelle should have gotten this one VJ. I mean she is a teacher after all. Furthermore did balboa ever meet up with those other explorers I listed here or have affiliated with them on their travels?
@Lou, Michelle is a music teacher. 16th century explorers are likely very low on her list of things to read about. Jolliet was 17th century, btw. There’s a timeline of European exploration on wikipedia grouped by century if you want to look into this deeper but I guess you might still have to make a chart to get a real clear picture of who was where when and such.
Yeah, Niraj had some tough breaks there. Can’t understand why he and Rebecca buzzed in on the $2K pope clue. Why guess on a clue worth that much near the end of the last round?
LINK: 9 more clues from the match
@VJ If she wins tomorrow, then the 3-day streak curse will be over because she could join in the TOC as a 4-time champ.
But at the same time, Ryan Fenster returns on JEOPARDY! tomorrow, and we’ll see if he can redeem himself from the ”Great Schism” question.
It will be great no matter who wins:
If Ryan wins he will feel vindicated
If Michelle wins, she will have won as many games as Ryan
If Bunny wins, I’ll bake a carrot cake
I hope Bunny wins, VJ, lol.
Of course, it will be great no matter who wins, VJ, but if Bunny wins, I will be completely blown away.
Congratulations to Michelle for the third( lucky) win in a row. She got lucky TWICE today. Had Rebecca been right instead of Niraj in FJ, Rebecca would have won. And had Niraj gotten his 2 DDs, it would have been a swing of 12.800 and left him probably in the lead. I guess he would have made the proper wager (if he had 16.000, then the bet would/should/could have been 12.401 and HE would have won.
Michelle is not yet on the ToC list though, she trails Wes (currently #15) by 4.507 bucks. She needs to win a 4th game. Well, lucky or not: a win is a win is a win….but how often can she go to the well before the player behind her gets FJ right AND bets it all?? We’ll find out tomorrow whether Michelle will make the ToC list and at a very safe spot at that with 4 wins, regardless of the $ amount.
Also congrats to Doris, only right prediction. So she bested me again..(grrrrrr…)
I would like to know how Niraj knew “Balboa”. That guy is not exactly the most famous of the conquistadors?
If I didn’t have my friend in Panama it would have taken me way more than 30 seconds to come up with the right guy. What is most memorable – at least for me- is, that he was – wrongly- accused and beheaded. This had all the makings of a triple whiff (JJ, RT and me agreed there) Too bad that the 2 DD misses cost Rijan the game. But it seems there are a million scenarios that can influence the outcome of a game, that’s probably one of J’s many appeals. The “Nutcracker” was kind of easy for a DD, but there are 9 (I think) double letter state capitals.AR,FL,MD,MO,PA,SD,VT,TN and WY…..a little tougher, though “State Capitals” is one of the categories J contestants are supposed to study, just as “Presidents” etc.. I’m really curious how tomorrow will unfold!!
What does “Bested” mean?
To “best” somebody means to beat somebody, e.g.: the Red Sox bested the Yankees by a score of 8 to 7 in extra innings. It’s kind of slang for being better than somebody else.”He bested me at our tennis game today in 3 sets”, meaning my opponent beat me. Or Ken Jennings bested all contestants 74 times before he lost.
John, Niraj couldn’t get much rhythm going despite getting final right but still he could have made lower bets on the daily doubles. Furthermore, I think he might have watched the history channel to learn about the conquistadors and their history. But still though I would have loved to see a tie breaker question again here if Rebecca didn’t bet and lose it all. Congrats to Michelle once again. I was thinking.more along the lines of Francisco De orellena pedro De texeira
@Louis
Yeah, Niraj had a couple of tough breaks as VJ already pointed out. Had he gotten even ONE DD right he would have ended up with 9.600 and would have won with an appropriate bet since he was the only one to get FJ right. A bet of $494 would have been enough, but he would probably have made a much higher wager, possibly all of it. Life is tough sometimes…