Welcome back to another week of recaps here at The Jeopardy! Fan! This is Week 2 of the College Championship!
Today’s semifinalists:
Emily Sun, a freshman at Columbia University from San Diego, CA |
Gus Woythaler, a senior at Stanford University from Encino, CA |
Niki Peters, a sophomore at the University of California, Berkeley from Boise, ID |
Scores going into Final Jeopardy:
Niki $14,800
Emily $12,400
Gus $11,400
Final Jeopardy! category: ROYALTY
Final Jeopardy! clue: In 1604, for a special project, he approved a list of scholars to work at Westminster, Cambridge & Oxford
[spoiler title=’Click/Tap Here for Correct Response’]Who is King James?[/spoiler]
Gus 11400 – 1001 = 10399 (Charles II)
Emily 12400 + 12400 = 24800 (James I)
Niki 14800 + 10100 = 24900 (King James)
(The project in question: translating the Bible into English.)
One thing I’ve found with this tournament: Generally, the wagering has been very strong!
Also – congratulations to Niki for making the final!
(contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com)
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Why didn’t Niki Peters have to specify which King James was the correct answer? There is James I and James II and she just said James? I thought you had to be specific.
Considering the fact that the project is known as the King James Version of the Bible, I think just James is OK (especially as he was the first English king of that name.)
The final jeopardy answer should have specified James I because there was also a James II. The question did not name the project, although scholars know that The King James Version was commissioned by James I. The correct answer should have included the numeral.
The show’s rules allow for the omission of a number on the first king or queen.
It’s a James I, not just James.
E,ily was robbed.
I disagree. They don’t call it the King James I Version of the Bible.
The correct answer was King James I, and Niki did not give a full correct answer. James I and James II are two different people, as different as James I and Charles II. The rules should be applied consistently, Emily was indeed robbed.
Jeopardy rules say you may omit a number if it is the first.
I think they got this one right, although on Niki’s answer reveal, I was holding my breath thinking “are they gonna neg that?”
Another morsel of food for thought – the king in question had two different numbers himself. He was James VI of Scotland; recalling the timing of the Union of the Crowns was what got me the answer.
Why was she allowed to give “King James” as her answer? There was more than one King James, and James II did not commission any version of the Bible. Just specifying King James was not a complete answer to the question, as it does not uniquely identify the sponsor of the Bible.
The show’s rules allow for the omission of a number on the first king or queen.
Sorry, any such “rule” is complete nonsense. “King James” does not uniquely identify James I, and Niki surely did not know any such “rule”. If contestants are marked wrong for omitting an indefinite article, then failing to identify the appropriate king among more than one choice is also wrong.
Contestants were marked wrong for adding an article where it does not exist, not the situation you described.
Contestants are also briefed on such matters prior to their appearance on the show, so it within the realm of possibility that Niki did know it. Or, the fact that it is simply called the King James Version of the Bible.
The show’s rules are backed up by 32 years of precedent and cover every possible nuance. By the show’s specific precedent here, Niki was correct and the judges made the right call.
I really don’t care what “rules” the judges came up with – Niki did not, to anyone watching the show, answer the question completely, whereas Gus did. They were asked who commissioned the work, and the answer to that is James I, period, not “King James”.
William:
Rules are rules. They were followed. Niki answered the question to the judges’ satisfaction. Emily inquired afterwards and was informed of same.
among british monarchs, king james 1 was not the first king of that name as he was the 6th of scotland. and the ‘special project’ was not specified. emily was robbed.
He was certainly the first English monarch of that name!
Yes, but the category was “Royalty”, not “Ënglish Royalty”. James I was actually (officially) James I and VI, since he was the sixth King James of Scotland.
one more thing: the ‘project’, so-called, was not the king james version; the ‘project’ was translating the bible.
And what was the ultimate conclusion of that effort, I may ask?
When James I was King of England he also didn’t have a number after his name. You don’t use a regnal number until it’s needed. Although for some reason Pope John Paul I decided to put the numeral after his name. Pope Francis didn’t want to do that.
He actually did, because he was King James VI of Scotland, a title he kept and added to the one of James I of England.
But for England, he was King James.
I know from first-hand experience that “Who was King James?” was not accepted as a Final Jeopardy response when I was a contestant in 1994.
Ed:
I’m going to need more specifics than this. I have a feeling that today’s ruling contained a significant amount of nuance to it, the fact significantly notwithstanding that the project being referred in the clue is known as just “the King James Bible”.
Also, there’s a chance that maybe your situation caused a rule change to the current one.
However, I do find this comment very intriguing and would love to hear more of this situation.
(Shea Zellweger contributed the following Final Jeopardy from October 14, 1994 – is this yours?)
IN THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT THIS KING WAS CALLED A “DREAD SOVEREIGN LORD”
(If that’s the case, my guess is that the fact that the work is known as the King James Version of the Bible played into yesterday’s ruling. Likewise, if there was a clue about the Gregorian Calendar, you would likely not need to know that the Gregory was Pope Gregory XIII that came up with it.)
Yes, my episode was aired October 14, 1994. I had the lead going into FJ. I started with a wild guess of George I, thought about it, determined that James I was the monarch in 1620, crossed out my guess (completely!) and replaced it with “James”. Alex did not hesitate to rule it incorrect.
King James is correct. James I or King James I is not needed because it is understood when a Roman numeral is omitted he/she can only be the 1st. Was the movie titled Fast & The Furious I? No. King James would have been incorrect if the answer were King James II.
Billy Brown’s argument is a flawed analogy. Movies with sequels are never retrospectively referred to with a suffix of the Roman numeral “I,” whereas kings or queens ARE so referred to when a later monarch bore the same first name.
I found the following:
http://j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=1343
THE CALENDAR $800 – on a clue about the Gregorian Calendar – accepted just Gregory instead of Gregory XIII. This would be most analogous to the King James Bible, in my opinion.
Popes’ numbers, with the exception of relatively recent pontiffs (e.g., John Paul II and John XXIII) are much more obscure than the regnal numbers of English kings, so I can understand why in the J! canon popes would not have to be identified with the same level of specificity as English monarchs. There are certainly examples in NON-FJ clues of names of English kings getting BMS instructions, such as the $2,000 clue in column 5 of this game mentioned by Alex Jacob in the J! board thread. http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=235&highlight=Alex+which+one+King+Charles
You’ve missed my point completely.
In both cases, we have a question about a major item named after a person (the Gregorian calendar vs the King James Bible), in which both people involved had a regnal number (Pope Gregory XIII vs King James I/VI) and the show accepted, in both cases, just a name without the number.
Also, what about the King Charles Spaniel Final Jeopardy from a few months back?