Final Jeopardy: Award Winners (9-18-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/18/2025) in the category “Award Winners” was:
He became the first person to win both an Olympic medal & an Academy Award thanks to a short film he made about his sport
6x champ Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer orig. from San Diego, CA, has now won $162,117. In Game 7, his opponents are: Greg Shipman, a geoscience cartographer from Houston, TX; and Kelly Anneken, a content designer from Alameda, CA.
Round 1 Categories: Kentucky History – ’80s Words in the OED – Communication Information – “Little” “Black” Books – A Basket of Clues – Sketchy Characters
Greg found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Kentucky History” under the $400 clue on the 20th pick of the round. He was in second place with $4,600, $1,000 less than Paolo’s lead. Greg bet it all and he was RIGHT.
Last name of the man of Scottish ancestry who moved to eastern Kentucky in 1804 & whose descendants were part of a nasty feud show
Greg finished in the lead with $9,600. Paolo was second with $7,800 and Kelly was last with $1,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: World Capitals – First Names – In Theory – Sax Tracks – Gendered Language? – Sketchy Characters
Kelly found the first Daily Double in “First Names” under the $1,600 clue on the 1st pick of the round. She was in last place with $1,400, $8,200 less than Greg’s lead. Kelly bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
It’s the first name of literature’s Dr. Van Helsing as well as the full first name of his creator show
Paolo got the last Daily Double in “World Capitals” under the $1,200 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $9,800, $200 more than Greg in second place. Paolo bet $5,100, and he was RIGHT.
They’re the world capital & its country whose names both end with the Spanish word for water show
Paolo finished in the lead with a runaway $29,300. Greg was second with $12,400 and Kelly was last with $8,600. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS KOBE BRYANT?
In July 2024, Snopes investigated some social media posts declaring that “NBA star Kobe Bryant was the only person ever to win both an Olympic medal and an Academy Award,” and rated it true. 6’6″ Bryant won 2 Olympic gold medals, one in 2008 and the other in 2012. They have some stats on why other people’s wins aren’t quite the same as Bryant’s.
Bryant won his Oscar in 2018 for “Dear Basketball” in the Best Short Film (Animated) category. The short was based on a poem Bryant wrote. The Oscar was shared with Glen Keane, who directed.
Kelly guessed Lance Armstrong. She lost $4,801 and finished with $3,799.
Greg got it right. He bet $4,801 and finished with $17,201.
Paolo got it right, too. He bet $4,300 and won the game with $33,600. Paolo’s 7-day total is $195,717.
A triple stumper from each round:
’80s WORDS IN THE OED ($800) So erotic it’s forbidden, this Brazilian dance was the subject of not one but two films
SKETCHY CHARACTERS ($1200) In 2012, nearly $50 million was paid for a sketch of a head by this Renaissance master for his “Transfiguration”
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “FIRST NAMES IN SCIENCE”
First name of the paleontologist who in 1990 noticed some large vertebrae jutting from an eroding bluff in South Dakota show
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I was 3/3 on DD, but missed FJ. I said Jesse Owens. I am, essentially, nil on basketball in general, and NBA in specific.
Got the dance, also, and the city. My sister went to Rome last year, but didn’t mention any volcano sites!
Paolo sure had that buzzer timing down. His opponents, good as they were, just couldn’t overcome his buzzer speed.
Ho hum, another night, another creditable performance by the challengers, another runaway. First and last DDs pretty easy, knew FJ immediately. Familiar with the forbidden dance and the volcanic city, only because some friends were there earlier this year and posted many photos.