Final Jeopardy: Country Distinctions (7-16-26)

The Final Jeopardy question (7/16/2026) in the category “Country Distinctions” was:

At 38%, this nation is ranked by the World Atlas as having the highest percentage of vegetarians in the world

10x champ Caleb Groen, a law & policy student orig. from Thousand Oaks, CA, brought his winnings up to $300,567 yesterday in a most spectacular way. In Game 11, his opponents are: Lea James, an attorney from Boston, MA; and Jonathan Migliori, a Latin teacher from Providence, RI.

Round 1 Categories: Talkin’ Ted Talks – Acronyms & Abbreviations – On Board – I Love the Word of That Sound – Gimme 5 Syllables – Where Do You Think You’re Going?!

Caleb found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Talkin’ TED Talks” under the $1,000 just before the first break. He was in the lead with $4,600, $3,200 more than Jonathan in second place. Caleb bet $3,600 and he was RIGHT.

This Brit’s talks have included “a Magna Carta for the web” & “the year open data went worldwide” show

WHO IS TIM BERNERS-LEE?

Caleb finished in the lead with $11,000. Jonathan was in second place with $2,800. Lea was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.

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Round 2 Categories: Historic People – TV Characters – Societies – Bugging You with Insects – Starts & Ends with the Same Vowel – The Odyssey

Lea got the first Daily Double in “Societies” under the $1,200 clue on the 4th pick of the round. She was in second place with $3,200 now, $10,600 less than Caleb’s lead. Lea bet $2,200 and tried the Jefferson Society. That was WRONG.

Founded in 1982 this society for law & public policy studies shares the name of an early American political party show

WHAT IS THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY?

Caleb got the last Daily Double in “Historic People” under the $800 clue on the 19th pick of the round. In the lead with $24,600, he had $20,600 more than Jonathan in second place. Caleb bet $5,400 and he was RIGHT.

Emilio Aguinaldo led fights against both Spain & the United States for the independence of this country show

WHAT IS THE PHILIPPINES?

Caleb finished in the lead with a runaway $30,800. Jonathan was in second place with $5,200. Lea was last with $1,000. All clues were shown.

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TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS INDIA

India is the country with the highest percentage of vegetarians due to religious and cultural factors. The 38% statistic comes from a 2019 World Atlas article. India’s population in 2019 was estimated at 1.36 billion so the 38% accounts for “only” about 519 million. As best as I could figure out when comparing more recent articles, the World Atlas is lumping vegetarians and vegans together. The World Population Review breaks that down into vegetarians (29.5%) and vegans (9%). Somehow, that results in an entirely different Top 10 than the World Atlas!

The World Atlas also has a list of the Top 10 countries that eat the least meat. India is No. 1 on that list, too. The other 9 might surprise you.

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Lea got it right. She bet $900 and finished with $1,900.

Jonathan was also right. He bet it all and doubled his score to $10,400.

Caleb came up with Bhutan. He lost his $9,200 bet but won the game with the remaining $21,600 for an 11-day total of $322,167.

A triple stumper from each round:

SOCIETIES ($2000) Formed by George Washington’s ex-officers in 1783, it was named for a Roman farmer-soldier, not an Ohio city

BUGGING YOU WITH INSECTS ($1200) Also known as a bristletail, this insect with a three-pronged tail feeds on starchy material like book binding

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “SHOW BIZ MARRIAGES”

Married since 1977, the year of this band’s 1st album, 2 members referenced another album with their 2023 “Remain in Love” tour show

WHO ARE TALKING HEADS?

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