Final Jeopardy: European Cities (9-25-15)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/25/2015) in the category “European Cities” was:
National Geographic says the site of this city is “the largest wetland in the Mediterranean”.
3x champ Dylan Parson has won $29,799 this week. In the last game of the week, he is up against: Matt Jackson, from Washington, DC; and Laura Varriale, from Madison, WI.
Round 1: Dylan found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “South American Capitals” under the $800 clue on the second pick of the round. He went in the hole for $1,000 with his answer to the first pick in the same category. He bet the $1,000 allowance and he came up with Cusco. That was WRONG.
The Universidad Catolica in Paraguay’s capital is called Nuestra Senora de la, or Our Lady of, this. show
Matt finished in the lead with $5,600. Laura was second with $3,800 and Dylan was last with $2,000.
Round 2: Matt found the first Daily Double in “Vikings” under the $1,600 clue. He was in the lead with $7,600, $3,400 more than Laura in second place. He bet $5,000 and he was RIGHT.
Under the terms of a 911 treaty, Norse leader Rollo received this region at the mouth of the Seine River. show
Dylan found the last Daily Double in “Shell” under the $1,600 clue. In third place with $6,400, he was $11,000 behind Matt’s runaway lead (Laura was $10K behind Matt). He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
This mottled material used for jewelry & eye-glasses once came from the hawksbill turtle; it’s now illegal most places. show
That didn’t break the runaway for long, and Matt finished in the lead with $20,600. Dylan was next with $8,600 and Laura was in third place with $7,800.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“The city of Venice, Italy, is built on barrier islands and a coastal lagoon of the Adriatic Sea… The Venetian Lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean. It consists mostly of saltwater marshes and mudflats. Two large rivers (the Sile and the Brenta) empty into the lagoon. Its thin barrier islands have three narrow openings to the Adriatic.” (National Geographic Education: Lagoon)
Laura wrote down Amsterdam, apparently missing the Mediterranean part of the clue. She lost her $7,388 bet and finished with $412.
Dylan got it right, His $8,598 bet brought him up to $17,198.
Matt also got it right. He already had the game in the bag but added another $600 for a $21,200 win. He will be the returning champ on Monday.
Matt Jackson is a paralegal. During the chat he talked about a role he played in a stage play during his senior year. He was a dead head. Literally.
Throughout this game, Matt seemed determined to get through both boards and kept cutting off Trebek’s post-clue observations. Maybe he was just compensating for Laura’s hesitancy in picking categories but, whatever, it did appear to annoy Trebek. We’ll find out Monday if that’s just how Matt plays the game.
2 years ago:: NONE of the players got this FJ in “European Capitals” and the winning total was $1,799!
Since a national split in 1993, it’s the only world capital that borders 2 other countries– Austria & Hungary. show
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Matt is a seasoned quiz bowl player, so he plays quickly and efficiently. I think he will play his own game, and is no Chu-style imitator. Dylan was clearly channeling Chu, as could be seen by his propensity to go for the middle of the board at the outset, in a hunt for daily doubles.
Friday’s final jeopardy question was “National Geographic says the site of this city Is “the largest wetland in the Mediterranean”, and seemingly correct answer was Venice. But Venice is located on the Adriatic sea, not the Mediterranean, whats up with this?
I imagine that one of the cluewriters read this in the National Geographic (see the info segment — it links to the article) and said something similar to him/herself… what are they talking about? Venice is on the Adriatic… and then thought, WOW! This will a make a great clue.
The way I understand it, the Adriatic is a branch of the Mediterranean. Then again, geography is not my forte and I’m probably wrong.
You’re not wrong, Cece. Take a look at the cities listed as Mediterranean port cities in wikipedia. The column headings are sortable so you can sort them by the seas that are branches (subdivisions) of the Mediterranean, or by country etc
@VJ—cool list, thanks! I got FJ just by thinking of a wet city on the M. The A. Sea never crossed my mind. 🙂
I’m so glad you pointed this out! I didn’t come up with Venice, and I felt so bad about it I stopped thinking about it — but now you show why I didn’t think of Venice: because I didn’t think of it as being on the Mediterranean.
Now that you’ve raised the question, I Googled it, and found out that the Adriatic (as well as the Tyrrhenian and Ionian) are considered part of the Mediterranean. Now they tell me! 🙂
Sorry Tom, I was typing my comment and submitted before seeing yours. hence it being redundant.
Dear Alex, It’s Bo-go-TA, not BO-go-ta,
Alex continues to butcher Spanish word accents. It’s Bo-go-TA, not Bo-go-ta,
The winner, Matt Jackson was in full on competition mode. Trebek cut him off before a commercial during single jeopardy and he kept right on talking.
I agree with Monica. Time for Trebek to leave. Not only does he treat the contestants poorly, but his need to try to show off by correcting foreign pronunciation is so very irritating. Also….about the contestants…why is there one who has to turn to look at the one buzzing in….intimidation?
I think it was Arthur Chu, who I guess most of us are trying to forget, who started that turning and looking at the other contestants. I did see it as intimidation, yes.
This Dylan character was trying to do the Chu thing all the way, but he forgot it’s a two-edged sword. When you jump in fast with the hardest clues, and ring in, there’s one little thing you need to do: have the right answer. Today, he didn’t, got off to a bad start, and never really recovered. That’s known as biting off more than you can Chu.
The Chu tactics have ruined Jeopardy for me, and it looks as if we have another Chu with this Matt guy.
@Tom — LOL, when I was watching Dylan go down in flames with the Chu style, I said to myself, Tom is gonna say if you want to play à la Chu, you have to know the right answers
What is wrong with Alex? He’s mean, he talks too much and he treats some of the players like they are idiots. I think he is getting too old be tolerant. He needs to go!
Wow, are you sensitive! I don’t see him that way at all.
Also, you committed an error in your argument that’s very common. You say he should go because he’s not tolerant. But you’re not being tolerant of him, so ——– by your own standards, it might be time for you to go, you know?
And, oh, yes, one other thing. ” … too old to be tolerant …” Too old, huh? Hmn. I think that’s called ageism. It’s definitely time for you to go.
Tom, are you trying to imply that people who write comments should be as tolerant as hosts (as your -and attack of Monica’s- logic would premise)? That hardly seems valid or fair.
I will, however, take issue with the reasoning that it is Alex’s age which is the compelling factor. Many people become more tolerant as they age: it does appear that Alex may not be one of them (or he has always been intolerant, but the game style has changed). I know he has said that he prefers that players “go down the list in order” (as he checks the clues off of the list) and may be affected by the newer style of play.
Yay! I finally got a prediction right this week. Thanks, players.
The $400 clue that Matt got right was my favorite in “Haiku About the Poet”
“Queen Mab” was so fab
Was the groom of Frankenstein
Not waving, drowning”
I thought it was clever how they worked in (most of) the title of a Stevie Smith poem.
I knew you would like that category. 🙂
“Matt…and kept cutting off Trebek’s post-clue observations.” I wish more contestants would do that sometimes. Trebek needs to STHU (yeah, I know, today seems like “diss Trebek Friday, lol).