Today’s Final Jeopardy – Monday, May 17, 2021

The 29th Tournament of Champions begins today! Buzzy Cohen, the champion of the 27th Tournament in 2017, will be hosting. Hope of the Valley Trebek Center for the Homeless will be the recipient of $250,000, matching the Tournament of Champions grand prize. Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Ancient Greeks) for Monday, May 17, 2021 (Season 37, Game 166):

Plutarch quotes this man who sentenced many to death: “Small ones deserve that, and I have no higher for the greater crimes”

(correct response beneath the contestants)

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Today’s contestants:

Sarah Jett Rayburn, a writer & stay-at-home mom from Hutto, Texas

Ryan Bilger, a graduate student from Macungie, Pennslyvania

Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Sarah has received a difficult draw here in 19-game winner Jason and a strong 4-game winner in Ryan. The prediction model gives Jason a 48% chance to win, with Ryan at 40% and Sarah at 13% (obviously, due to rounding, the percentages don’t add up to 100.) Jason’s biggest weakness during his run was getting Final Jeopardy! correct and a tougher Final may prove to be his undoing over the next two weeks. Both Jason and Ryan have a better-than-average chance of advancing to next week.

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Correct response: Who is Draco?

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More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)

Draco was an early Athenian lawmaker, believed to be the first recorded legislator in Athenian history. He is best known today as giving his name to the adjective “draconian”, referring to harsh or unforgiving rules or punishments; in Draco’s code, many offences, large or small, were punishable by death.

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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!

Scores going into Final:
Ryan $32,400
Sarah $9,800
Jason $9,400

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Tonight’s results:
Jason $9,400 + $9,400 = $18,800 (Who is Draco?)
Sarah $9,800 – $9,800 = $0 (Who is Crito?)
Ryan $32,400 + $5 = $32,405 (Who is Draco?) (Semi-Finalist)

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Wild card standings:
Monday: Ryan Bilger, $32,405
1. Jason Zuffranieri, $18,800 (99.794% to advance)
2. Sarah Jett Rayburn, $0 (0.020% to advance)

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Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ryan $9,200
Sarah $5,000
Jason $4,200

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Opening break taken after: 15 clues

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Daily Double locations:
1) AMERICAN HISTORY $600 (clue #15)
Ryan 3800 +3800 (Jason 3400 Sarah 2400)
2) TIME MAGAZINE PERSON OF THE YEAR $800 (clue #7)
Ryan 16000 +6000 (Jason 5400 Sarah 3400)
3) ESSAYS $1200 (clue #22, $4800 left on board)
Sarah 5800 +4000 (Jason 8200 Ryan 29200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 206

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Game Stats:
Ryan $24,000 Coryat, 28 correct, 2 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Jason $9,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 2 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Sarah $7,000 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $40,400
Lach Trash: $5,600 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,000

Jason Zuffranieri, career statistics:
593 correct, 45 incorrect
37/40 on rebound attempts (on 77 rebound opportunities)
46.64% in first on buzzer (535/1147)
34/42 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $101,305)
12/21 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,695

Ryan Bilger, career statistics:
149 correct, 11 incorrect
4/7 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
41.07% in first on buzzer (138/336)
9/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $45,600)
5/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,933

Sarah Jett Rayburn, career statistics:
92 correct, 16 incorrect
11/12 on rebound attempts (on 31 rebound opportunities)
26.13% in first on buzzer (87/333)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,700)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,500

Andy’s Thoughts:

• You could tell this immediately out of the gate; the players played the game and Buzzy hosted the game with the requisite intensity for the Tournament of Champions. Buzzy was the perfect host selection for this event.
• I agree with both Sarah and Jason’s bets; being that an incorrect response likely eliminates them anyway, the best play would be to go all-in in this situation.

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