Today’s Final Jeopardy – Wednesday, September 16, 2020


Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 19th Century Americans) for Wednesday, September 16, 2020 (Season 37, Game 3):

Obituaries called this man who died in 1820 a celebrated colonel, the first settler in Ky. & a man who delighted in perils & battle

(correct response beneath the contestants)

PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to abide by physical distancing guidelines and when you are not able to do so, properly wear a mask. Ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.


Today’s contestants:

David Ferrara, a realtor from Los Angeles, California
David Ferrara on Jeopardy!
Kelly Decker, an actress from Kagel Canyon, California
Kelly Decker on Jeopardy!
Cory Barger, an orchestra musician from Riverside, California (2-day total: $37,400)
Cory Barger on Jeopardy!

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Correct response: Who is Daniel Boone?


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More information about Final Jeopardy:

Daniel Boone is best known today as one of America’s early frontiersmen; in the mid-1770s, he famously blazed a trail (known as the Wilderness Road) through the Cumberland Gap into what is now Kentucky. He spent the last two decades of his life in what is now Missouri after falling deeply into debt due to Kentucky land claims.

Many details of his life have been blurred due to his becoming a quasi-mythological figure in American history, a practice which even started during his lifetime thanks to John Filson’s “The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon”.

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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:
David $9,800
Cory $1,800
Kelly -$1,400


Tonight’s results:
Kelly -$1,400 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Cory $1,800 + $1,800 = $3,600 (Who is Daniel Boone?)
David $9,800 – $4,823 = $4,977 (Who is Daniel Boone? Davey Crockett) (1-day total: $4,977)


David Ferrara, today's Jeopardy! winner (for the September 16, 2020 game.)


Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
David $3,600
Kelly $2,800
Cory $1,000


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Opening break taken after: 15 clues


Daily Double locations:
1) EUROPEAN HISTORY $1000 (clue #5)
Cory 800 -1000 (Kelly -200 David 400)
2) 6-LETTER WORDS $1600 (clue #16)
Kelly 5600 -3000 (Cory 1400 David 4800)
3) THE NAVAJO $1600 (clue #24)
David 12800 -3000 (Cory 1400 Kelly 2600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -177


Unplayed clues:
J! Round: “YOU” IDIOM! $600 $800 $1000
DJ! Round: SAND PAINTING $1200 $1600
Total Left On Board: $5,200
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 9 (3.00 per episode average)


Game Stats:
David $12,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 32.69% in first on buzzer (17/52), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Cory $2,800 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 19.23% in first on buzzer (10/52), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Kelly $1,600 Coryat, 12 correct, 7 incorrect, 30.77% in first on buzzer (16/52), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $17,200
Lach Trash: $16,600 (on 13 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $15,000

Cory Barger, career statistics:
45 correct, 10 incorrect
4/6 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities)
26.54% in first on buzzer (43/162)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,500)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,800

Kelly Decker, career statistics:
12 correct, 7 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
30.77% in first on buzzer (16/52)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000)
0/0 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $1,600

David Ferrara, career statistics:
17 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
32.69% in first on buzzer (17/52)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,800

David Ferrara, to win:
2 games: 33.304%
3: 11.092%
4: 3.694%
5: 1.230%
6: 0.410%
Avg. streak: 1.499 games.


Andy’s Thoughts:

  • Please remember that contestants are regular people and that we should all be kind to them. Not every viewer is going to enjoy every contestant, but that doesn’t mean that contestants should be subject to online abuse from viewers.

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26 Comments on "Today’s Final Jeopardy – Wednesday, September 16, 2020"

  1. Roberta Gerber | September 16, 2020 at 11:08 am |

    I BELIEVE your description of previous winner, the bassoon player, is incorrect grammatically.
    The word “ORCHESTRA” is a noun. An adjective is proper; “ORCHESTRAL” MUSICIAN.

    Thank you.

  2. Roberta Gerber | September 16, 2020 at 12:21 pm |

    Most appreciative of your thinking. Language is an organism, vibrant, changing and challenging and wonderfully receptive to people. Yet, there is always music, a timbre, that makes the usage of a word or phrase or concept natural and easily repeated. “ORCHESTRA MUSICIAN” adheres to none of the principles of language, almost a tongue tripper…orchestra musician …
    Again, thank you, for your response.

  3. Just this week saw the HIstory Channel series, “The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen”, so knew this one!

  4. Andy,
    I understand, thru no fault of yours, you can no longer post results at 11 a.m. can you tell me at what time you are able to post them?
    Thanks!

    • Effective at the beginning of the new season on Monday, WAKA (CBS Montgomery-Selma, Alabama) moved Jeopardy! from 9:30 am CT to 4:30 pm.

      With that change, the first places where the show airs are in Tyler, TX; Jackson, TN; and Meridian, MS; those three media markets all show the program at 11:00 am Central Time, and all on ABC affiliates.

      I can’t speak directly to when Andy is first able to access results.

  5. Seems David didn’t remember the Alamo.

  6. Marty Cunningham | September 16, 2020 at 4:56 pm |

    “Orchestra musician” would seem acceptable, since there are also “street musicians” and “studio musicians” and I suppose even “church musicians” could be acceptable.

    Sad that some have to be reminded to go easy on the contestants. There have been some that i have not really liked, but they all got there to play, and it is different to be behind the podium than just watching from home. And, with the recent changes, there are probably subtle little differences from before. And, with a new producer, there are bound to be slight changes to staff and production values, too. Understand the safety protocols that are in place, some to protect Alex, but i feel sorry a bit for the current contestants, who do not get the same ‘personal’ photo with Alex that so many of us have gotten over 8,000 previous shows.

  7. Very disappointed episode. Three wrong answers on the daily double resulted our first shutout of the season. Let’s hope tomorrow’s episode will be much better.

  8. Matthew Yothers | September 16, 2020 at 7:47 pm |

    Too bad Kelly got eliminated after Double Jeopardy!, she was a lot of fun, and gave us a lot of humor in this game.

  9. Poor Kelly. Tbh I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to meet a contestant as much as I’d like to meet her.

  10. Michael Schwartz | September 16, 2020 at 9:52 pm |

    @Matthew, R. B.
    I was rooting for Kelly, too. She, and her TSA/dinosaur story were so cute. Now, can someone explain David’s FJ! bet?

    • Yes, Kelly is one of the most upbeat, enthusiastic contestants, and leading halfway through DJ, before fading. Since David had a lock, any bet < $6200 works.

  11. A curious (and morbid) factoid
    about Daniel Boone: An
    (overblown?) controversy
    remains to this day as to where
    exactly Boone is buried. Two
    gravesites, two sets of remains: Team Missouri claims
    that his remains are in Warren
    County, Missouri; Team Kentucky
    claims that they are in
    Frankfort, Kentucky. I wonder
    if King Solomon would have a
    solution to this dispute.

    Google the details.

  12. Pizza Face Fred | September 16, 2020 at 10:47 pm |

    A noun adjunct, attributive noun, qualifying noun, noun modifier, or apposite noun is an optional noun that modifies another noun . . .

  13. Poor Kelly becoming our first dismissal of the new season. Oh well, contestants like her are mostly fun loving to say the least.

  14. Is Alex losing it? How can he possibly think that Davy Crockett is a logical response? Does he not know that Davy Crockett died at the Alamo in 1836?

    • I also thought it was a logical enough guess.

    • Laurie MacDougall | September 17, 2020 at 1:56 am |

      I’m sure Alex does know that. I think he was pointing to how Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett have both been mythologized as heroes of the frontier, and how often they are confused.

    • If one remembered that 2011 was the dodransbicentennial of the Alamo, then yes, one would know that Davey Crockett didn’t die in 1820.

  15. IF the correct response had been “Davy Crockett” would Dave’s answer of “Davey Crockett” have been disqualified??
    Same “logic” as Barry vs. Berry.

    • Davey isn’t pronounced different than Davy.

      • Barry isn’t pronounced different from Berry.

        • “In 2017 Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley & Joe Walsh performed ‘Johnny B. Goode’ in tribute to this rock pioneer who had recently passed away”
          “Who was Chuck Berry?”

          Correct—but wait—did she pronounce it Berry, Barry, or Bury? We better check the tapes… 🤣

          Ironically—the clue also mentions “Johnny B. Goode”, which also came up in this site’s discussion of yesterday’s kerfuffle…

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