Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Nations of the World) for Friday, May 1, 2020 (Season 36, Episode 170):
On the English-language list of member states of un.org, it’s the only nation with a Spanish-language article in its name
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Quemars Ahmed, a field organizer from La Flintridge, California![]() |
Ashleigh McCord, a marine resource management specialist from Beverly, Massachusetts![]() |
Jesse Laymon, a public policy director from Long Island City, New York (1-day total: $13,000)![]() |
Today’s winner is currently scheduled to defend their title on May 18.
Looking for the J!6 clues for April 2020? You can find them here!
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is El Salvador?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
There are a bunch of other fun quirks over at the list of UN members at UN.org (Also, generally used as the source list of countries for my podcast Complete the List.) North Korea is alphabetized under D (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), South Korea and Moldova under R (Republic of Korea and Republic of Moldova), and Tanzania under U (United Republic of Tanzania).
Has your local pub quiz gone dark over COVID-19? Many companies are now live-streaming their games online! Check out our calendar of live-streamed trivia events and get your fix!
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, nearly $500 has been raised.)
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Jesse $15,400
Quemars $15,000
Ashleigh $10,600
Tonight’s results:
Ashleigh $10,600 – $1,800 = $8,800 (What is Cote Cote d’ivoire)
Quemars $15,000 – $15,000 = $0 (What is Belize?)
Jesse $15,400 + $15,000 = $30,400 (What is El Salvador?) (2-day total: $43,400)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jesse $9,400
Ashleigh $3,400
Quemars -$200
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) STATES BY BORDERS $800 (clue #6)
Jesse 1800 +1800 (Ashleigh 0 Quemars 0)
2) HISTORIC HAPPENINGS $2000 (clue #1)
Quemars -200 +2000 (Jesse 9400 Ashleigh 3400)
3) EUROPEAN MUSEUMS $1600 (clue #28)
Quemars 12200 +3200 (Jesse 15400 Ashleigh 10200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 226
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 362 (2.13 per episode average), 5 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jesse $14,400 Coryat, 19 correct, 0 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Ashleigh $10,600 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Quemars $13,400 Coryat, 13 correct, 4 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,400
Lach Trash: $11,200 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,400
Jesse Laymon, career statistics:
41 correct, 5 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (36/114)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,400)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,400
Ashleigh McCord, career statistics:
17 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,600
Quemars Ahmed, career statistics:
13 correct, 5 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,200)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,400
Jesse Laymon, to win:
3 games: 42.499%
4: 18.061%
5: 7.676%
6: 3.262%
7: 1.386%
Avg. streak: 2.739 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Kudos to Ashleigh for her wager in Final Jeopardy. I wish that such an occurence was normal and that I did not feel the need to point it out, but it feels so rare for third place to make the wager that she did. It’s too bad that things didn’t work out in Final for you, but your preparation was noticed by this fan, at least!
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Nice win by Jesse today! We’ll see him in 2 weeks after the G.O.A.T. Encore Event. Have a nice day Andy and keep doing what you do😁
4 weeks. Because after Ken beats the brakes off James we go right into the Teachers Tournament.
Brian:
Teachers Tournament contestants were told the tournament begins Memorial Day.
So…
Weeks 35 and 36: Jennings/GOAT encores
Week 37: regular play
Weeks 38 and 39: Teachers Tournament
Week 40: regular play
Beyond that: ???, dependent on resumption of production
It might be worthwhile to amend the “J!/WoF halt production” post featured on the front page to reflect the your most updated information. (It still says Teachers is airing 5/4-15.)
Andy – I guess the thought in her wager is that it is the maximum wager that assures her of beating Quemars if he wagered enough to cover her betting it all – and he missed the final jeopardy. And of course beating Jesse if he wagers to cover Quemars – and misses final jeopardy.
The San Diego chicken was never the official mascot of the Padres. It was the swinging friar. Jeopardy was wrong.
The clue didn’t say “official”. He was synonymous with the Padres, was literally the first mascot associated with an MLB team in any way, and his first game was one of the chapters in my second book. Speaking as a subject matter expert: the clue was fine.
i misunderstood the question for the longest time….. once i knew what the question was asking, it was easy….
i thought it was countries with english as an official language…… not the names of the countries in english….
not sure about others, but i have had many FJ’s recently where it’s very close in terms of whether i get an answer right or wrong. in the last week, i’ve had two FJ’s where i got it down to 2 answers and went with wrong one (ben hur vs 10 commandments, dr jeckel vs tale of 2 cities)
this is very nitty and i’m sure wrong…
but doesn’t belize have “el” in it too?…….. or is the “el” in belize not an article?
It is not.
Words like ‘A’ or ‘The’ that appear before nouns are articles. Spanish for THE is EL or LA (masculine or feminine version depending on the noun modified).
El Salvador translates to The Savior in Spanish. The use of the article is clear.
The EL in Belize does not translate to THE, it’s just part of the word. Belize is apparently derived from a Mayan word describing a river or road.
It’s a rather easy question once you realize it’s basically asking for a country with a standalone EL or LA in front of the name (easier for those with a functional understanding of basic Spanish I should say).
Addendum: EL or LA for singular nouns, LOS or LAS for plural. The Spanish versions of articles are typically found in Spanish translations of country names that begin with The (ie The United States = Los Estados Unidos) but that doesn’t speak to official names or English-language lists as required by the clue).
I felt the FJ question was worded poorly.
Why was Belize an incorrect answer? It contains “el”. I realize it would not have changed the final winner.
Native language of El Salvador is Spanish, not English
Doesn’t matter. “English-language” is an adjective the modifies the nounal phrase “list of member states at UN.org” (c.f. the Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish lists at the same place).
Agree with Andy on Ashleigh’s bet. Just like Jesse’s bet on Thursday, it’s great to see some defensive wagering strategy employed by the person in third place. I can’t fault anybody for trying to win as much money as they can, but it’s even more important to give yourself the best chance to win.
Belize, Belgium, Venezuela, Ireland, Iceland all should be correct answers according to the question
If you feel that strongly about this, please go here: https://www.jeopardy.com/contact
“On the English-language list of member states at un.org, it’s the only nation with a Spanish-language article in its name”
I don’t think the examples you listed fit or fulfill the “article” requirement.
https://www.121spanish.com/nouns-and-articles
You are SO right sir! All of the examples cited have letter sequences that if isolated and removed COULD function as Spanish articles (and plenty of other things too…the el train…the sixth note of a scale (la). But where they sit now, nope. You all are getting a little too cute with yer nit-pickin’!
You are so wrong. Final Jeopardy merely asked for a country from the UN list that has “aSpanish-language article in its name.” Numerous countries fit that requirement.
It does not specify that the Spanish article needs to stand alone.
Wow.
Mick:
Please be more respectful to other commenters.
Also there are other Spanish articles, LA and Los so there are more possible answers
The contact form which I provided to you is the best place to lodge such an objection to tonight’s Final Jeopardy.
There are no countries that use LA or LOS as modifiers on the English-language list.
Los Estados Unidos is The United States is Spanish so that doesn’t count for what the clue is looking for.
Good luck to Jesse when J! Resumes. Of his $43,400 won, $24,200 has come from his perfect DD and FJ answers.
Correction: $25,200 from DDs and FJ!
If Jesse had missed his 2nd DD when he wagered $5,600 in the first game, he wouldn’t even have qualified for FJ. So that one answer has in effect won him at least $43,400!