Final Jeopardy: Destinations (9-30-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/30/2025) in the category “Destinations” was:
In 2020 the Pripyat Ferris wheel earned a cameo mention in a N.Y. Times travel essay called “Why Would Anyone Want To Visit” this place
New champ, Zach Knecht, a law clerk orig. from Spring Hill, FL, won $13,401 yesterday. In Game 2, his challengers are: Hannah Gómez,, a book editor from Tucson, AZ; and Curtis Bogetti, a Ph.D. candidate from Kamloops, British Columbia.
Round 1 Categories: U.S. Geography – Nursery Rhyme Dramatis Personae – Buzzed Words – Dog Breed Anagrams – “P” is for Pop Song – Sandwiches With Gordon Ramsay
Zach found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “U.S. Geography” under the $800 clue on the 1st pick of the round. Nobody was on the board. Zach bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
In the U.S., this elevated boundary & watershed stretches from New Mexico to Montana show
Zach finished in the lead with $6,200. Curtis was in second place with $5,400 and Hannah was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: World History – Space Stuff – Olden Lit – The Righteous Gemstones – Pope Culture Jeopardy! – “Be” Real
Curtis found the first Daily Double in “Olden Stuff” under the $1,600 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in second place with $8,600, $1,200 less than Zach’s lead. Curtis made it a true Daily Double, and he was RIGHT.
In “The Song of Roland”, God makes the sun stand still so this Emperor can continue a battle show
Curtis got the last Daily Double in “The Righteous Gemstones” under the $2,000 clue with 6 clues left after it. In the lead with $22,800 now, he had $9,800 more than Zach in second place. Curtis bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
Pliny the Elder called this alliterative bright blue gem “a fragment of the starry firmament” show
Curtis finished in the lead with $26,600. Zach was second with $15,000 and Hannah was last with $6,800. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS CHERNOBYL?
Irish non-fiction writer Mark O’Connell visited the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone as part of his research for his 2020 book “Notes From an Apocalypse” and wrote about it for the New York Times magazine. He explained his own reason for his visit on NPR: “…I wanted to see what the end of the world looked like, in a way. And I also wanted to see what…a catastrophic event on the order of Chernobyl, what happens afterwards? And I was fascinated by the ways in which life is kind of returning to this place in ways, you know? Nature is thriving there. And not only nature, but people are living there.”
Pripyat, about 2 miles from Chernobyl, was evacuated after the 4/26/1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The amusement park built for the residents was due to open on May 1st but had to be abandoned. The Ferris wheel is often included in videos such as Danny Cooke’s Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl.
Hannah took a shot at it with Egypt. She bet and lost her whole $6,800.
Zach got it right. He bet it all and doubled his score to
Curtis got it right, too. He bet $3,401 and won the game with $30,001. Curtis Bogetti is the new Jeopardy! champ.
2 triple stumpers from the last round:
WORLD HISTORY ($1600) 18th c. Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa’s rival, the ruler of this kingdom said she could be likened to a great man
SPACE STUFF ($800) In the 17th century Gian Domenico Cassini discovered Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys & Dione, 4 moons of this planet
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “THE 1500s”
In the early 1500s he produced a codex in words & pictures on the flight of birds, one of many subjects that interested him show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
What a good battle again tnnight and wow, that huge DD wager. I knew the first and erred slightly on the 3rd by saying lapis lazula. Final stumped me. I thought it sounded Indian so said Mumbai. How no one knew the modest fellow who met the pieman is a mystery to me. The paper soaking up ink was tricky but I figured it out. Not a common term. And I just remembered way too late that Charlemagne was indeed the first Holy Roman Emperor.