Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category The 19th Century) for Tuesday, February 5, 2019 (Season 35, Episode 107):
In his autobiography, Buffalo Bill Cody remembered this venture as “a relay race against time”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Note that the air time of this episode in your local market may differ due to the scheduled State of the Union address.
Today’s contestants:
John Fowle, a landscaper from New Orleans, Louisiana![]() |
Jade Ryan, a student from Gainesville, Florida![]() |
Will Dawson, a tour guide from Washington, D.C. (2-day total: $55,002)![]() |
This is the first of three consecutive days where both challengers have the same first initial to their names (which, frankly, makes tracking correct responses a little bit more difficult!)
With a win today, Will will find his way onto our ToC Tracker! See where others stand on the tracker here!
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is the Pony Express?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
The Pony Express (also known as the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company), was a system of U.S. mail delivery by continuous horse-and-rider relays. It ran between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California, and cut the delivery time for mail from 24 days to 10. Each rider rode about 75-100 miles and changed horses every 10-15 miles. During its 18 months of service, only one bag was reported lost. Once the transcontinental telegraph was completed in 1861, the system ceased, as it was an expensive stopgap. Newspapers of the day portrayed the Pony Express’ riders as heroes, including “Buffalo Bill” Cody and “Pony Bob” Haslam. Cody, who later became famous for his Wild West show, was just 14 when he began riding for the Pony Express.
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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Will $21,400
John $13,600
Jade $4,600
Tonight’s results:
Jade $4,600 – $4,599 = $1 (What is gunfight at OK Corral?)
John $13,600 – $12,600 = $1,000 (What is the Ideterod?)
Will $21,400 – $5,801 = $15,599 (What is the transcontinental railroad) (3-day total: $70,601)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
John $7,200
Will $3,000
Jade $1,800
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Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES $800 (4th pick)
John 1000 +1000 (Will 200 Jade 0)
2) THE L.A. PHILHARMONIC AT $100 $800 (10th pick)
Will 9000 +1000 (John 8000 Jade 1800)
3) SCIENCE FICTION $1200 (19th pick)
Will 18800 +1000 (John 8000 Jade 1400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 116
Unplayed clues:
J! round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $0
Will $21,400 Coryat, 27 correct, 5 incorrect, 47.35% in first on buzzer, 2/3 on rebound attempts
John $13,400 Coryat, 15 correct, 0 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts
Jade $4,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts
Combined Coryat Score: $39,400
Lach Trash: $7,600 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,000
Will Dawson, stats to date:
73 correct, 12 incorrect
5/6 on rebound attempts
42.01% in first on buzzer (71/169)
5/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,200)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,333
Will Dawson, to win:
4 games: 67.83%
5: 46.01%
6: 31.21%
7: 21.17%
8: 14.36%
Avg. streak: 5.109 games.
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Tournament of Champions projections:
With a projected 133 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 500,000 simulations, our model shows:
An average of 4.1121 5+-time champions (standard deviation 1.6681).
An average of 7.3862 4+-time champions (standard deviation 2.026).
An early cutoff took place 7.972% of the time (or a 5-game winner will be left out).
Will Dawson qualified 51.631% of the time.
Anneke Garcia qualified 75.613% of the time.
Dave Leffler qualified 54.034% of the time.
Jonathan Dinerstein qualified 27.937% of the time.
Alex Schmidt qualified 8.886% of the time.
John Presloid qualified 2.064% of the time.
Jackie Fuchs qualified 0.211% of the time.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I feel as though opening the episode by joking about a contestant’s appearance is not the best way of opening a program, but Alex does what Alex does. Not that it hurt John much in the early going, he built up quite an advantage after the opening round!
- When you get 17 correct to your opponent’s 6 and 5 in Double Jeopardy!, get both Daily Doubles correct, and don’t have a runaway going into Final Jeopardy!, you’ve done something wrong. Will was much too conservative on his Daily Doubles. Much like Friday, when Meghan didn’t bet enough on her first one, Will made the same mistake. Having gone to THE L.A. PHILHARMONIC early in the round, it’s clear he liked the category. Then, the Daily Double came up in the $800 box. It felt like Will had just hit the jackpot. He had been dominating proceedings over the previous five clues (in fact, he was on a streak of 9 in a row!) and this would have been a perfect opportunity to really take control of the game. And then Will bet $1,000. I was not a happy Jeopardy! fan.
- In fact, until Will’s performance in SUNNY “D”, it looked like John was going to be within two-thirds of Will’s score.
- Will does play very quickly, though, and that has been helpful for the show getting through most of the clues.
- Jade seemed incredibly nervous in spots; I wonder how well she would have done had she not been so nervous.
- Effective in first on buzzer stats: Will 51.92% (27/52), John 25.00% (13/52), Jade 23.08% (12/57).
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None of them knew that answer. Wow!
We got a triple stumper in Final Jeopardy as the 19th Century category is very evil to the contestants.
I interpreted “venture” as a business he was involved with, so I guessed Wild West Show. Thought I had a Triple Stumper Final. Pony Express seemed too obvious. Poorly worded clue…