Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category European Country Names) for Tuesday, July 16, 2019 (Season 35, Episode 222):
Resolving a decades-long dispute with its neighbor to the south, in 2019 this 28-year-old republic added “North” to its name
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
JJ Harris, a community volunteer from Petaluma, California
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Peter Smith, a lawyer from Mar Vista, California
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Sam Kavanaugh, a teacher from Minneapolis, Minnesota (4-day total: $113,801)
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is North Macedonia?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
Due to the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, Greece had major issues with another country using the name “Macedonia”, as their northern region was also named Macedonia, to the point where Greece was making it more difficult for the former Yugoslav republic to enter the international community. As a compromise position in the 1990s, the international community used “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM). The 2018 Prespa Agreement with Greece settled the issue, allowing for North Macedonia, which came into force in February 2019.
Since Alex Trebek’s diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many community members have been raising money. The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store is as well! All proceeds from any “Keep The Faith And We’ll Win” shirt sold will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. To date, over $370 has been raised.)
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Sam $27,800
JJ $21,200
Peter $6,400
Tonight’s results:
Peter $6,400 + $6,400 = $12,800 (What is Macedonia?)
JJ $21,200 – $8,399 = $12,801 (What)
Sam $27,800 + $14,601 = $42,401 (5-day total: $156,202)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Sam $13,400
JJ $4,800
Peter $1,200
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) IT’S ALL IN THE PAST $600 (23rd pick)
Sam 6600 +6600 (JJ 3800 Peter 400)
2) STATE CAPITALS $1200 (1st pick)
Peter 1200 +2000 (Sam 13400 JJ 4800)
3) IN THE AIR $1600 (7th pick)
JJ 8800 +6000 (Sam 14600 Peter 3200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 268
Unplayed clues:
J! round: O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN $200; LANGUAGE LAB $200; FANCY RESTAURANTS $800
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $1,200
Game Stats:
Sam $21,800 Coryat, 22 correct, 0 incorrect, 37.04% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts
JJ $16,800 Coryat, 16 correct, 1 incorrect, 27.78% in first on buzzer, 0/1 on rebound attempts
Peter $5,600 Coryat, 13 correct, 2 incorect, 25.93% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $44,200
Lach Trash: $5,200 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,200
Sam Kavanaugh, stats to date:
108 correct, 8 incorrect
3/4 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
34.77% in first on buzzer (97/279)
9/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $55,200)
4/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,600
Sam Kavanaugh, to win:
6 games: 80.720%
7: 65.157%
8: 52.595%
9: 42.454%
10: 34.269%
Avg. streak: 9.187 games.
Methodology: https://thejeopardyfan.com/2019/04/jeopardy-predictions-updated-methods.html
Andy’s Thoughts:
- At $156,202, Sam is 16th all-time (after adjusting for doubled dollar values) in terms of “most money won in first five games”. Without adjustment, Sam is 5th all-time.
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I see the correct response is “North Macedonia”…I wonder if they will also accept “Macedonia”, which seems to fit the clue better actually. The 28 year old republic that added “north” to its name this year wasn’t “North Macedonia” or it would now be “North North Macedonia”.
If I were a judge, I would personally not accept just Macedonia, because “north” is in quotation marks in the clue (in fact, that’s why I believe “north” is in quotation marks, to ensure contestants write it down). It’s still a 28-year-old republic, regardless of its name change.
(Edit: Looks like they chose to. That’s why they’re the judges and I’m not.)
Could be a fun bar debate among grammerians over a beer. The way the clue is phrased, “this country” could refer to what is now North Macedonia; it could also refer to the country as it was known before adding “North” to its name. I don’t think the confusion rule would apply, since the other “Macedonia” is not a country, just an area of a country.
It might be akin to a clue “This musician once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol that combined male and female.” I think Prince would be acceptable, but so would “the artist formerly known as Prince.”
For the record, my response was just plain Macedonia, so I’m happy they took it.
Macedonia added “North” to its name. Not “North Macedonia”. Hence Macedonia is the right answer (or FYROM).
And the current name of the country is North Macedonia.
Thanks for sharing our calendar project, Andy! 😀
You’re welcome! (Let’s hope it gets to 100%!)
With Sam winning his fifth with lots of $ to boot Jeopardy! obviously decided to add him to the next TOC and most likely Ryan Bilger will qualify also. My two cents on why the July 10 cutoff is because of optics and diversity to include more women. While Emma is an obvious exception to the rule of either 5 wins or more or the most money won with 4 wins if Sam and Ryan make it than Anneke Garcia and Lindsey Schultz miss out. These last 3 choices are all very understandable and worthy choices.
Let’s say a contestant thought of the correct answer with only 5 seconds left, and in the time crunch, wrote “What is FYROM?” Do you think the judges world accept that?
Considering Macedonia was accepted, I think so.
JJ would have had a better chance of winning with a wager of $6,601. Wins if she gets it right and Sam gets it wrong no matter Sam’s wager. And wins if she and Sam both get it wrong assuming Sam bet enough to lock out JJ if Sam gets it correct. She wagered only to lock out Peter which she would’ve done with a smaller wager.
Lets just say I was glad there wasn’t a whole category on Math. I was calm during the whole game until it came time to wager. My nerves got to me then. I knew the correct strategy but I got the math wrong! It’s funny I didn’t know how high my score was at the end of Double Jeop until I looked over and saw I was within reach of Sam. You have to take your eyes off the board to see the scores, they’re way over to the left.
this is great. he’s from my hometown too, so thats a cheeky bonus!
Another possible reason for the early announcement of the TOC field is that there are only 8 more episodes in the season and Sam ran the table. If that is the case, the producers would likely want to ensure they have plenty of time to promote the TOC while preserving the suspense about Sam’s future games.