Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 19th Century Europeans) for Thursday, January 25, 2018 (Season 34, Episode 99):
In an 1889 letter to his brother, he wrote, “I wouldn’t exactly have chosen madness if there had been a choice”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Jeff Machusko, a data analyst from Centennial, Colorado |
Rosie Jonker, a literary agent from New York New York |
Rachel Lindgren, a fire lookout from Bend, Oregon (4-day total: $65,199) |
Rachel is on a win streak; see where she places on our ToC Tracker!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is Vincent Van Gogh?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
The famed letter referred to in the clue is to Vincent Van Gogh’s brother Theo; he had already been suffering from mental health issues for a number of months at that point; a well-documented incident of self-harm occurred when Vincent Van Gogh sliced off much of his own left ear.
Vincent Van Gogh succumbed to this mental illness in 1890 when he took his own life.
If you’re looking for mental health resources, Americans can visit mentalheath.gov; Canadians can visit Healthy Minds Canada.
Also, on January 31, 2018, Canadian telecommunications company Bell sponsors Let’s Talk Day; the best way to contribute worldwide is to tweet using the hashtag #BellLetsTalk; Bell will donate 5 cents for every tweet on that day that uses the hashtag.
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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Rosie $13,800
Rachel $10,800
Jeff $5,200
Tonight’s results:
Jeff $5,200 – $3,000 = $2,200 (Who ?)
Rachel $10,800 – $0 = $10,800 (5-day total: $75,999) (Who is Dostoevsky???)
Rosie $13,800 – $7,801 = $5,999 (Who is Nietzche)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Rachel $5,200
Rosie $2,800
Jeff -$800
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) THE QUOTABLE WILL ROGERS $400 (27th pick)
Rosie 4000 -2000 (Rachel 5200 Jeff 200)
2) RHYMING TERMS $1600 (5th pick)
Jeff 800 +2000 (Rachel 5600 Rosie 3600)
3) 3-NAME THE AUTHOR $1200 (13th pick)
Rosie 6800 +3000 (Rachel 8400 Jeff 2800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 94
Unplayed clues:
J! round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $0
Game Stats:
Rachel $10,800 Coryat, 15 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer
Rosie $14,000 Coryat, 22 correct, 4 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer
Jeff $4,800 Coryat, 7 correct, 4 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $29,600
Lach Trash: $18,000 (on 15 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,400
Rachel Lindgren, stats to date:
87 correct, 10 incorrect
29.26% in first on buzzer (79/270)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,400)
2/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,880
Rachel Lindgren, to win:
6 games: 42.31%
7: 17.90%
8: 7.57%
9: 3.20%
10: 1.36%
Avg. streak: 5.733 games.
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Starry starry night…
I’m not entirely surprised that FJ was 0/3, given the category of “19th Century Europeans.” Pretty broad to be sure, and it seems that no one was thinking about artists/painters.
In hindsight, the reference to the year, 1889, and to “his brother” makes the answer obvious (not that I got it within 30 seconds either). Had the category been “19th Century Artists” – or even just “Artists” (given that the year was already mentioned in the clue) it’s entirely possible that the results might have been 3/3.
Congratulations to Rachel on her fifth victory! Hopefully she’ll have at least one big payday before she’s dethroned.
It was the madness that did it for me, plus that print of Starry Night I have hanging in my bathroom 😉
And I concur, great job Rachel! At least we’ll see her again in the TOC.
Good intuition by Rachel with the FJ bet!
Rachel sure has been lucky in Final Jeopardy!
I thought FJ would be 3/3.
Despite leading going into final for most of her games, I’d say she’s won by pure luck at least 3 times
I got that Van Gogh answer right! That was very easy for anyone who remotley follows art history or art culture, jeesh!. I was the only one at my house who knew, lol! Besides that I was clueless on 3 name authors and cheese. Jeopardy questions are too left field for me lately. They’re more like WTF questions.
Rachel has been studying for Jeopardy for a while I gather while working a very busy job of staring out into the open skies for smoke, lol!
I read “Dear Theo” for an art class. Seven Triple Stumpers for me each of the last three days. The contestants on those days look like they’re half my age. Old guys rule!
A recent biography of Van Gogh asserted that:
1) he did not have mental illness, but rather temporal lobe epilepsy that led to hallucinations and erratic behavior. The evidence is not good
2) Van Gogh did not kill himself, but was instead killed, probably accidentally, by children playing with a revolver.
The evidence for 2 was stronger than the evidence for 1.