Final Jeopardy: Mid-East Countries (7-31-20)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/30/2020) in the category “Middle East Countries” was:

In 1949 this kingdom dropped the word “Trans” from the beginning of its name

Today we’re watching a rerun of the last match of the 2009-2010 Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational that originally aired on 5/7/2010 and featured: actor, comedian and musician, Michael McKean; actor, comedian, director, writer and musician, Cheech Marin; and actress, Jane Curtin. As in all 2-day tournament finals, the players had scores to bring forward from the first match: Michael had $31,600. Jane had $29,000 and Cheech had $6,600.

Today would normally be the last day of Season 36, but here’s the good news: WHEEL OF FORTUNE & JEOPARDY HEAD BACK TO THE STUDIO

Round 1 Categories: Life With the Hood – Celebrity Moms – Hotels – The Biblical Sense – Brands That Sound Like Verbs – A Negative Attitude

Cheech found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Brands That Sound Like Verbs” under the $600 clue, with 6 clues to go after it. He was in the lead with $4,600, $2,400 more than Jane in second place. He bet $2,000 but could not come up with anything so he was WRONG.

This 6-letter telecom company sounds fleet of foot. show

WHAT IS SPRINT?

Cheech finished in the lead with $3,600. Jane was second with $3,000 and Michael was last with $2,800. Only the $500 clue in “Negative Attitude” went uncovered.

Round 2 Categories: The Spirit of 1976 – The New York Times Movies – How Low Can You Go? – Science – Their Main Musical Instrument – Retronyms

Jane found the first Daily Double in “How Low Can You Go” under the $2,000 clue on the 10th pick. She was in the lead with $8,200 now, $1,800 less than Michael in second place. “Bet it all”, Cheech suggested. Jane chuckled and bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT, allowing that she should have listened in retrospect.

This chemical element has the lowest melting point of any metal & that’s why it’s liquid at room temperature. show

WHAT IS MERCURY?

Michael got the last Daily Double in “Science” under the $1,600 clue, with 10 clues left after it. At $8,400, he was in a second place with Cheech. They both had $2,400 less than Jane’s lead. He bet $2,500 and he was RIGHT.

It’s a substance that conducts current; sodium & potassium are 2 of the ones Gatorade restores to your body. show

WHAT IS AN ELECTROLYTE?

Michael finished in the lead with $12,100. Jane was next with $10,000 and Cheech was in third place with $6,000. All 30 clues were seen.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS JORDAN?

The History section in Scholastic.com’s article on Jordan tells us that Jordan was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918. At the end of the first World War, the League of Nations gave control of what was called Transjordan (the region east of the Jordan River) to Great Britain. Abdullah ibn Hussein became the emir of Transjordan. Transjordan gained its independence in 1946. Abdullah became king and the country became the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Eventually, the “Trans” part was officially dropped. (Sources vary as to whether that was anywhere from 1949 to 1952!)

Also, check out A History of Jordan, in Maps on YouTube

---

---

Cheech got it right. He bet it all and doubled his score to $12,000. His $6,600 from the previous game brought him up to $18,600.

Jane drew a blank. She lost $9,999 and was left with $1.00 to add to her $29,000. She finished with $29,001.

It looked like Michael crossed out “Trans” and then went with Palestine. He lost $8,000 and finished with $4,100. Adding in his $31,600 from the first game gave Michael a winning total of $35,700. Actually, Michael would have won if he finished with zero in this game! The grand prize of $1,000,000 went to Michael’s charity, the International Myeloma Foundation.

Jane’s charity, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, got $250,000 and Cheech’s charity, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, received $100,000.

A triple stumper from each round:

A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE ($600) A law or decree that forbids, like what the 18th Amendment established

RETRONYMS ($1600) No C-section? Little or no drugs? Then the childbirth was this, aptly from the Latin for “birth”

More clues on Page 2

5 years ago on Celebrity Jeopardy!: NONE of the players got this FJ in “Celebrity Memoirs”

Memoirs by Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley and this late actor share the title “The Time of My Life” show

WHO IS PATRICK SWAYZE?

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