Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category State Capitals) for the second game of the final in the 2017 Tournament of Champions, on Friday, November 17, 2017 (Season 34, Episode 50):
A state capital since 1805, its name begins with the last 4 letters of the state’s name
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Remember, this is a 2-game total-point affair, today’s scores get added to yesterday’s to determine the champion! The winner receives $250,000; second place $100,000, and third place $50,000.
Throughout November, in memory of Cindy Stowell, I’ll be making a donation for every item sold from this site’s online store! More details are below the information about Final Jeopardy.
Today’s contestants:
Austin Rogers, a bartender from New York, New York (Yesterday’s total: $6,500) |
Alan Lin, a software engineer from Riverside, California (Yesterday’s total: $8,800) |
Buzzy Cohen, a music executive from Los Angeles, California (Yesterday’s total: $0) |
[spoiler title=’Click/Tap Here for Final Jeopardy! Correct Response/Question’]What is Montpelier, Vermont?[/spoiler]
Keith Williams over at The Final Wager, a couple of years ago, called STATE CAPITALS the worst Final Jeopardy category. And like the first paragraph of that article, this was a wordplay clue that has little to do with geography. Of course, this specific fact wasn’t touched on in Keith’s State Capital wordplay article (which probably explains why the writers went with it), but another fact about Montpelier is that it’s the least populous state capital (with just 7,855 people, as per the 2010 census.)
I guess the “1805” clue was good in that it could at least orient you in the right part of the country as a starting point, but it feels like so many STATE CAPITALS clues are really, really difficult to come up with the correct response to in 30 seconds.
(In case you’re also wondering, Keith does give some fun wordplay facts about some of the other state capitals)
And, of course, now that the tournament’s over, we go back to regular play on Monday. Kara Chandler returns as champion, if you haven’t yet, you really should check out the interview she did with #JeopardyLivePanel – she really is a hoot!
In memory of Cindy Stowell, I’ll be donating $2 to the Cancer Research Institute for every item sold in November from our store!. Here are our top sellers; all prices are in US dollars!
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Buzzy $25,600
Austin $10,200
Alan $1,600
Tonight’s results:
Alan $1,600 – $1,200 = $400 + $8,800 = $9,200 (What is) 2nd place, $100,000
Austin $10,200 – $10,000 = $200 + $6,500 = $6,700 (What is Indianapolis?) 3rd place, $50,000
Buzzy $25,600 – $1,301 = $24,299 (What is Love You!) 1st place, $250,000
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Austin $6,200
Alan $5,600
Buzzy $2,800
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) MUSICAL GROUP NAMES DEFINED $1000 (7th pick)
Austin 1600 +1600 (Alan 600 Buzzy 400)
2) THE BODY HUMAN $1600 (10th pick)
Buzzy 10800 +10800 (Austin 9000 Alan 4800)
3) EPONYMS $2000 (19th pick)
Alan 10400 -10400 (Buzzy 23200 Austin 9000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 100
Unplayed clues:
J! round: MONSTER MASH $200
DJ! Round: WORLD THEATER $400, 5 EXES $400, 4 O’S $400
*Total $ Left On Board: $1,400
Game Stats:
Buzzy $16,400 Coryat, 18 correct, 0 incorrect, 28.30% in first on buzzer
Alan $12,000 Coryat, 13 correct, 4 incorrect, 30.19% in first on buzzer
Austin $9,600 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 30.19% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $38,000
Lach Trash: $8,400 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,200
Buzzy Cohen, stats to date:
279 correct, 48 incorrect
35.14% in first on buzzer (273/777)
16/22 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $35,400)
8/14 in Final Jeopardy!
Average Coryat: $13,800
Alan Lin, stats to date:
225 correct, 25 incorrect
34.80% in first on buzzer (214/615)
10/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,805)
7/11 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,873
Austin Rogers, stats to date:
401 correct, 54 incorrect
39.71% in first on buzzer (378/952)
24/31 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $105,700)
14/17 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,435
Miscellaneous:
- Buzzy is the first player to score $0 in the first day of a Tournament of Champions final and come back to win the tournament.
- This is the first Tournament of Champions final in which the three players went 0 for 6 combined in Final Jeopardy over the course of the final.
- Thanks to Mark Barrett for providing me with a full chart of this game.
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Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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I started going through state capitals during the commercial break. Montpelier was one of the first ones I thought about. Come back from commercial, hear the clue, immediately forget everything I had been previously thinking about. Yes, this is a horrible category.
I want buzzy to replace trebek.
As someone that would no longer be eligible to be a contestant if Buzzy replaces Trebek, I really don’t like it when people suggest people like Buzzy or Ken as a replacement
I was so disappointed to not be able to watch the final ToJ but glad to know Buzzy won! Of course would have been happy for any one of them! The pressure must be awful😃
20/20 hindsight: If Austin had wagered $4499, he’d have locked in 2nd place/$100,000 and still had a go at 1st/$250,000 if Buzzy bets big and loses. Seems like a safer bet. Though, it’s not all about safety, right?
No. A bet of $4,499 leaves Austin short of Buzzy.
Yes, I realize that. But, it assures Austin second place while still having a shot at 1st IF (as I noted) Buzzy bets big and loses. For my money, it’s the best bet to assure $100,000 while still having a shot at $250,000 (depending, of course, on what Buzzy bets, and how he answers).
I hope that if I ever am in that position, my opponents choose to act like you have proposed here.
Seriously. This is the Tournament of Champions. Buzzy isn’t going to over-bet. Nobody is going to over-bet here in Buzzy’s position.
I can hardly conceive of the thought process of someone who would willingly bet to not give oneself an actual chance to win the game in such a scenario.
Especially if you consider that the winner of a ToC is more significantly more likely to receive a future super-tournament invite over second place (look at Brian Weikle, Doug Hicton, and so many others who didn’t get a Battle of the Decades invite despite finishing a close 2nd in their ToC), the expected value of super-tournaments is more than enough to make the bet for the tournament here the correct play every single time.
I’ve also done the math. I’ve assumed the general average, that Austin is 50% to get this Final Jeopardy! right, and that he’s 20% to be the only person to get Final Jeopardy! right between him and Buzzy. I’m also assuming a 1% chance that the leader makes a stupid overwager and loses the tournament.
Not taking any future tournaments into account (as it could be said that both Austin and Buzzy could probably get invited here), Austin is 20% to win 250,000 (him right, Buzzy wrong), 30% to win 100,000 (him and Buzzy right), and 50% to win 50,000 (Austin wrong). Expected value: $105,000.
With your suggestion: 1% chance of winning $250,000 and 99% chance of winning $100,000. Expected value: $101,500.
So, the math is clear: Austin made the smart bet here (to say nothing of the fact that it plays to win the game.)
Not sure if anyone is still talking about the ToC, but I juat finished watching on my DVR. I was fairly disappointed in the leniency on some of the responses.
1) Austin’s response of “Benedict” on Day 1 should have been prompted or ruled incorrect. There are 15 other Popes Benedict who would be rather offended to be confused with a Hitler youth member, presumably.
2) on Day 2, a response of “tricep” was accepted, referring to the muscle in the back of the arm. The proper singular is “triceps” being a shortening of “triceps brachii.” It means “three head.” There is no such muscle as the “tricep.”
I would also dispute the categorization of fungi as “plant like” in one of the Day 1 clues. Biologically, plants and fungi are as dissimilar as are plants and animals. They belong to different taxonomic kingdoms.