Today’s contestants:
Heather Burnett, an accountant from Orlando, FL |
Ben Rothenberg, a sportswriter from Washington, DC |
Buzzy Cohen, a music executive from Los Angeles, CA (3-day total: $58,401) |
Scores going into Final Jeopardy:
Ben $16,000
Buzzy $12,200
Heather $9,400
Final Jeopardy! category: ISLANDS
Final Jeopardy! clue: The Spanish name of these islands is Islas de Sotavento; their French name is Iles Sous-le-Vent
What is the Leeward Antilles? (Buzzy said Leeward Islands but was given credit, Heather said “Windward Islands”, Ben the “South Winds Islands”)
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Heather 9400 – 0 = 9400
Buzzy 12200 + 8000 = 20200 (4-day total: $78,601)
Ben 16000 – 8401 = 7599
This ruling confuses me very greatly. I don’t think that Leeward Islands should have been accepted. Those names, in Spanish (Islas de Sotavento) and French (Îles Sous-le-Vent), refer unambiguously to the islands on the north coast of Venezuela that include Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, known in English as the Leeward Antilles. The islands split in English into “Windward Islands” and “Leeward Islands” are both called “Islas de Barlovento” in Spanish and “Îles du Vent” in French. A cursory Google of those names in French and Spanish would tell you that.
(contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com)
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NOT LEEWARD ANTILLES. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM LEEWARD ISLANDS
Did you actually read my post? I said they are different and that the Spanish and French use those terms to refer to what we call that island group.
Sounds like Heather and Ben both have an argument for being brought back.
Harvey:
I’d say that Ben doesn’t. The question as written has a correct response. It’s just that I don’t know if Buzzy gave the right correct response here.
Heather certainly has one, though, if you ask me.
But if Buzzy didn’t give the correct response, then shouldn’t he have fallen below both Heather and Ben’s post-FJ totals on what would have been a TS?
That doesn’t mean Ben should come back, though, as regardless of whether or not Buzzy’s response was judged correct, Ben would not have won the game.
And to add to the confusion, there’s also a group of islands in French Polynesia called the Leeward Islands (also Îles Sous-le-vent in French and Las islas de Sotavento in Spanish) which comprise the western portion of the Society Islands, many thousands of miles southwest of the Caribbean. But the use of the word “Leeward Islands” in that case is so obscure that it seems unlikely to be the island group that the clue writers had in mind.
That one seems a bit odd as I don’t think there’s usually a reason to name those islands in Spanish.
In all honesty, though? My best guess is that because Britannica gives the literal translation into English as “Leeward Islands”, the show felt they had no choice to accept Buzzy’s response — which means that neither contestant has cause to return.
However, if “Leeward Antilles” had been negged, there would have been a problem. So, I think that there may have been multiple correct responses here.
Anyone else think Buzzy reminds you of Clark Kent?
I’ve seen others mention it, but I don’t personally make those comparisons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotavento_Islands
Those islands aren’t anywhere near the part of the world at issue here, though.
Nothing about the clue specified that the archipelago they were asking for had to be in the Caribbean, though. I guess this is yet another reason why they had to accept Leeward Islands. Anyway, I’d be curious whether there was any tape stoppage or delay in accepting Buzzy’s response as correct.
Buzzy Cohen, through 4 games:
80 correct
13 incorrect
7/9 on Daily Doubles
3/4 in Final Jeopardy
In First On Buzzer: 34.38%
Buzzy is a cute guy. I wonder what his real name is.
To be honest, I find the question of “what’s his real name” rather disrespectful.
HIS NAME IS BUZZY.
If it wasn’t, I bet he wouldn’t be called that on Jeopardy.
Just saying.