Final Jeopardy: World Flags (8-11-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (8/11/2021) in the category “World Flags” was:
The use of red, yellow & green as Pan-African colors began with the flag of this nation, the continent’s oldest independent country
15x champ Matt Amodio, a PhD student from New Haven CT, has now won $475,600. In Game 16 he’s closing in on half a million as he faces these 2 players: Brianna Weck, a community engagement manager from Arlington, VA; and Max Wagner, a musician orig. from Chicago, IL.
Round 1 Categories: Lock Talk – An August Category – 3-Syllable Verbs – Come Out to the Coast – We’ll Get Together – Have a Few Laughs
Matt found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “An August Category” under the $800 clue on the 14th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $6,000, $3,200 more than Brianna in second place. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
August 1990: Sue Hendrickson discovers a 40-foot-long skeleton of this show
Matt finished in the lead with $15,600. Brianna was second with $4,000 and Max was last with $3,000. No clues went uncovered. There was one reversal in this round (see below).
Round 2 Categories: China’s Cultural Revolution – Name that Shakespeare Play – Math – Fruits & Vegetables – Deeper Cuts on Their Album – “Ish” List
Matt found the first Daily Double in “China’s Cultural Revolution” under the $1,600 clue on the 10th pick. He was in the lead with $21,200 now, $14,000 more than Brianna in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Also called “Quotations from Chairman Mao”, this colorful book was carried by the revolution’s most zealous adherents show
Matt got the last Daily Double in “Math” under the $800 clue, with 11 clues to go after it. In the lead with $25,200, he had $16,400 more than Brianna in second. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
It’s a statement of a relationship such as greater than or less than; it’s also a socioeconomic issue show
Matt finished in the lead with $31,600. Brianna was next with $8,800 and Max was in third place with $5,400. 2 clues went uncovered.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent country and a symbol of African independence, particularly during the period when European powers colonized every country in Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia. The short periods of time when the country came under Italian rule did not diminish this status. The green, yellow and red bands of Ethiopia’s flag represented the country long before its first official flag was declared in 1897. The plain tri-color flag is said to be “without arms” as other versions display the ruler’s coat of arms. See Ethiowebs for variations of the Ethiopian flag.
In the 20th century when the Pan-African movement took root, many African nations achieved independence. Over 10 of them adopted the colors of the Ethiopian flag. Others adopted the black, green and red colors of the Pan-African flag.
Max came up with Zimbabwe, which gained independence in 1980. That cost him his whole $5,400 and left him with nothing.
Brianna thought it was Liberia. Its flag is patterned after the U.S. flag. She lost her $2,001 bet and finished with $6,799.
Matt crossed out Ethiopia and went with Egypt, which has the Pan-Arab colors (red, white and black). He lost his $2,000 bet but won the game with $29,600. that gave Matt a 16-day total of $505,200. Not to contradict Joe Buck, but “Mr. Can’t Be Caught” showed signs of fatigue today, blanking out a couple of times. He’s made it to the half million mark. Now, he’s just got to win two more games to hold on to the Jeopardy! champ spot when the new season begins. Hang in there, Matt!
Reversal: LET’S GET TOGETHER ($800) This hybrid breed is the result of having a poodle & a Cocker Spaniel as parents – Joe Buck rejected Matt’s response of “cockadoodle”. Brianna got it with “cockapoo”. The judges approved Matt’s response. He gained $1600. Brianna kept the $800 she won on the clue.
For the second day in a row there were only 3 triple stumpers in the game:
FRUITS & VEGETABLES ($800) Related to peaches & nectarines, this smaller relative that’s a good source of Vitamin A can be pronounced with a long or a short “A”
($1600) Langoustine is a shellfish; this similar word is a tropical fruit (image)
DEEPER CUTS ON THEIR ALBUM ($2000) On the “Invisible Touch” album in 1986, this trio tipped a “Domino”, a nearly 11-minute song
5 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “American Authors”
On his 1849 death, it was said he was “regarded rather with curiosity than admiration” & “few will be grieved” show
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This game happens to be on my birthday
That was a bad Final question because Liberia became independent in 1847, South Africa in 1910, Egypt in 1922, and Ethiopia in 1941 according to thoughtco.com. Something does not smell kosher in the state of Denmark with that Final.
Albert, I guess whether the final stinks or not depends on your interpretation of what you’re reading. Here’s something from the Scramble for Africa: “The 10 percent of Africa that was under formal European control in 1870 increased to almost 90 percent by 1914, with only Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Liberia remaining independent.”
“Hang in there, Matt!”—VJ, what with the Roscoe factor…
Ha ha ha, Cece, I’ll have to keep an eye on Roscoe the rest of the week to see if he’s trying to be a pal or a jinx
Didn’t Italy control Ethiopia for a time in the 20th century? I’m confused.
Yes Albert, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and occupied the country for several years. See the Second Italo-Ethiopian War on wikipedia (there’s a link to the 1895-96 war on there, too). But, as I said in the recap, that didn’t diminish the admiration of the colonized countries for Ethiopia. They were under foreign rule a whole lot longer.
Matt you are brilliant. I can watch you play this game all day long. Keep going!!
Go Matt! I hope you beat Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer!
Matt is a fantastic player, but not in the same league as James and Ken. James and Ken would have nailed the Finals that Matt missed. I would be petrified to face James, but I think I could get lucky against Matt if a few of my best categories popped up in the second round.
He is now the 4th contestant to win over $500,000 in regular games only.
Tough final as we got another triple stumper. Like I said this before, nobody knows about geography.
Hang in there Matt don’t give up yet. I am just happy he didn’t bet a big bundle this time unlike the last few games. I always thought geography flags were in the contestants alley. But still though if Matt can get tomorrow’s final right he will tie with Jason. David Madden also had made a couple of true daily doubles and paid off.
Go Matt go!
Sooner or later the other contestants are going to have to realize that when they gain control of the board they *must* go DD hunting, if for no other reason than to take them out of Matt’s hands. Like yesterday he found all 3 DDs.
When Brianna gained control in DJ she went for the lowest value Shakespeare clue while both DDs were still not found.
A second row math question and the PhD Comp Sci student bets $2000 of a possible $25,200? I bet he was kicking himself after seeing the clue.
Maybe that was a combination of his predetermined bet pattern (go all in on the first round and generally, $4K and $2K in the last round, plus a desire to be a bit conservative today to make it to that half mil.
Yeah, not being under the lights, it’s easy for me to say he should have bet big. With everything that’s at stake, I can understand being conservative.
Well we’ll see what happens in the last 2 games. Tomorrow is the penultimate game of Season 37.