Masters Tournament Recap: Wednesday 5-24-23
The Final Jeopardy clue in the category “Africa” was:
A major seaport & formerly a world capital, this city has a name from Arabic for “house of peace”
In the first final match of the 2023 Jeopardy! Masters Tournament, the Masters are: 32x champ James Holzhauer, 2019 Tournament of Champions winner & 2020 Greatest of All Time first runner up; 38x champ Matt Amodio, and a semi-finalist in the 2022 Tournament of Champions; and 23x champ Mattea Roach, & semi-finalist in the 2022 Tournament of Champions.
We are down to the final battles of the 2023 Jeopardy! Masters Tournament, with 2 matches between James, Matt and Mattea, the 3 finalists. Ken informed the finalists that they have all automatically qualified for a spot in next year’s Masters Tournament. J!Buzz has all the details on how the competition works.
Jeopardy! Categories: So You Think You’re Pretty Good At This – In The World Capital – Recent Events – Composers – Some Hard Words – Cops & Robbers TV
James found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “In the World Capital” under the 1,000 clue on the first pick of the round. Nobody had any money. James bet 1,000 and said Prague. That was WRONG.
The Zytglogge Tower & Astronomical Clock, which inspired Einstein & his special theory of relativity show
James finished in the lead with 4,600. Matt was second with 4,400 and Mattea was last with 3,600. All clues were shown.
Double Jeopardy! National Historical Parks – Furniture & Furnishings – 3-“Sy”llable Words – Horror Movies – British Authors – What’s All This?
James found the first Daily Double ”British Authors” under the 800 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in the lead with 8,600, 4,200 more than Mattea in second place. James bet all of it and he was RIGHT.
First & last name of the lesser-known sibling who wrote the semi-autobiographical “Agnes Grey” show
Mattea got the last Daily Double in “3 ‘Sy’llable Words” under the 2,000 clue on the 18th pick of the round. Mattea was in second place with 7,200 now, 11,600 less than James’ lead. Mattea bet all of it and was RIGHT.
A lack of blood flow to the brain & a drop in blood pressure cause this, the medical term for fainting show
James finished in the lead with 22,400. Mattea was next with 16,800 and Matt was in third place with 6,000. All clues were shown.
ALL of the Masters got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS DAR-ES-SALAAM?
Dar es Salaam (literally “Abode of Peace”) is the 7th largest city in Africa. Located on the Swahili, it became the capital of Tanzania in 1964. Although plans to move the capital to Dodoma were made in 1973, the switch did not officially occur until in 1996. About 6 million people live in Dar es Salaam, which is commonly called “Dar”.
Matt bet it all and finished with 12,000.
Mattea bet 8,000 and finished with 16,800.
James bet 22,400 and finished with 34,314.
These points will be added to the points each Master earns in the second round to determine the winner.
The Final Jeopardy clue in the category “Latin in Literature” was:
A work by this 15th-century English writer quotes the phrase “Rex quondam, Rexque futurus”
In tonight’s second match, James Holzhauer; Matt Amodio; and Mattea Roach square off for the final showdown.
Jeopardy! Categories: The 1960s – Common Bonds – “P” Is For Poetry – Nom Nom Nominations – The Grammar Police – Michael J. Fox
James found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The 1960s” under the 1,000 clue on the first pick of the round. Nobody had any money. James bet 1,000 but ran out of time before he could come up with anything so he was WRONG.
U.S. Solicitor General J. Lee Rankin was its general counsel & is credited with smoothing the prose in its 1964 report show
James finished in the lead with 5,600. Mattea was second with 4,600 and Matt was last with 1,800. All clues were shown.
Double Jeopardy! Nature – Crossword Clues “AE” – 3-Named People – In This World – It’s Just Us – You Know It’s Not The Same As It Was
Mattea found the first Daily Double in “Nature” under the 2,000 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. In the lead with 7,400 now, Mattea had 1,800 more than James in second place. Mattea bet it all and was RIGHT.
Malay gives us the name of this marine mammal that’s similar to a manatee show
Matt got the last Daily Double “In this World” under the 2,000 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in last place with 4,600 now, 9,600 less than Mattea’s lead. Matt bet 4,600 but missed a consonant so he was WRONG.
Guadalcanal is a pacific island; the same 6 letters start the name of this river that flows through southern Spain show
Mattea finished in the lead with 22,800. James was second place with 9,600 and Matt was last with 3,200. All clues were shown.
NONE of the Masters got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS THOMAS MALORY?
From Jones’s Celtic Encyclopedia: “This Latin phrase was supposedly carved upon Arthur’s tomb at Glastonbury, according to Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur 21:7: ‘Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place… many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse: Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rexque futurus.’
“Translated in full, the phrase is ‘Here lies Arthur, King Once, and King in the Future’–or as T.H. White so succinctly translates it, ‘The Once and Future King.'”
Matt’s question was who will win? He didn’t bet anything so he had 3,200 to add to his 12,000. Matt finished with 15,200.
James thought it was T.H. White (the aforesaid translator). He lost 119 points, leaving him with 9,481 to add to the 34,314. James finished with 43,795.
Mattea went with Chaucer. After losing 5,915, Mattea had 16,885 left to add to the 24,800 from the first game. Mattea finished with 41,685. So James Holzhauer won the Masters Tournament despite a most serious Canadian challenge!
PRIZES AMOUNTS: James: $500,000 Mattea $250,000 Matt $150,000
For more statistics, check the Masters Tournament Leaderboard on Jeopardy.com.
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Having more tournaments such as this will cut down on the number of people trying to get on Jeopardy. I mean there will be fewer regular season games where the average, unknown player will have a chance to participate. I, personally, have been trying to get on the show for six years and have never once been invited for any kind of audition. And Yes; I did answer enough questions to continue with the process.
Idk about that, Albert. I just don’t see how they are going to keep this up. They already said that the Top 3 from this tournament will be back for the next Masters. That means they need 6 more superstars.
But I suppose the big gimmick will be will Mattea beat Holzhauer that time around. Then if they are in the Top 3, they’ll be back again. I can’t help thinking that’s gonna be a drag sooner rather than later.
Congratulations Mattea Roach. To suffer such a personal loss and still compete at such a level shows, imo, great human resiliency and determination. To be 24 years old and compete besides the likes of James Holzhauer and Matt Amodio is amazing.
Mattea impressed the hell out of me.
That turned out to be quite a thrilling finish. I’m still shocked that James didn’t know that Einstein had studied/worked in Switzerland, or the name of the commission that issued the 1964 report on the JFK assassination. Anything I know, I figure he knows too.
That FJ on Africa came to me right away because I immediately recognized the Arabic word for “peace,” which is very similar to “shalom” in Hebrew.
The stumpers and the 2nd FJ way out of my league, although I did know the Latin phrase for representing oneself from my years of working with attorneys and courts. Kind of knew the Manhattan Project’s 3rd location because it’s been a controversy ever since I moved to the Pacific NW.
I haven’t parsed the FJ wagers yet, but James is a mathematical genius, so I’m sure he knew exactly what he was doing. Props to Mattea for coming so close to victory.
I’m not sure we need another Masters Tournament–it may make for good television, but it also makes the rich richer–but now we know the 3 finalists will be back for the next one. Michael Davies is doing all he can to overexpose the franchise.
Man, Howard, you and I are so on the same page! Concur with what you wrote. My wife, who had already gone to bed, and was a Medieval Studies minor in college, I knew would know final. I translated the Latin, then said “Thomas à Becket”, because I confuse the two!
I also got the East African former capital because there was a player for the Jets named “Abdus Salaam”, and I recalled the announcer saying it meant “soldier of peace”!
Someone said a few days or a week ago that the clues were harder, and I def agree with that. “Average” contestants would have been lost in the weeds.
Not sure if I recall that player, but much earlier Rashaan Salaam from Colorado won the Heisman Trophy.
I should have taken Latin in high school instead of German.
Also, James Holzhauer should never have been invited to participate in this tournament for two reasons. First, James was in the GOAT Tournament with Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, which should have precluded him from this tournament. I believe that participating in the GOAT Tournament with Jennings and Rutter sets Holzhauer apart from the other players by putting Holzhauer on a higher level.
Secondly, James has become a celebrity and working game show employee on ‘The Chase’. IMO, working on ‘The Chase’ has made Holzhauer a real celebrity, which should have precluded him from this tournament.
On one hand, Jeopardy wants viewers, and including James is a great way to get them.
But on the other hand, James is basically a professional trivia person at this point, which does make it seem a bit unfair.
On the other other hand, it was still a close competition in the end, and a correct response by Mattea on the last FJ would have given her the crown.
I loved the second FJ clue. I’m surprised James didn’t get it. But that is such a high pressure situation to be in.