Today is the final day of David Faber’s hosting stint. Through 4 days, $115,400 has been donated to the Robin Hood Foundation. Next week, the final guest host, Joe Buck, hosts for Kidsmart. Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Literature & The Animal Kingdom) for Friday, August 6, 2021 (Season 37, Game 225):
In 2020 scientists named Trimeresurus Salazar, a new species of this, after a character in a book series
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Madeline Birkner, a college access program coordinator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Patrick Pacheco, a labor and employment specialist from Denver, Colorado
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Matt Amodio, a Ph.D student from New Haven, Connecticut (12-day total: $394,600)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Matt’s 12-game streak has been completely overshadowed the past few days by the leaked report on Wednesday that Mike Richards (who has been sued multiple times for harassment and discrimination, by the way) was in advanced negotiations to become the next host of Jeopardy. Yesterday, it came out that Richards lied to Jeopardy! fans about the circumstances behind him taking an “emergency” guest hosting spot. Mike Richards is a man who has lost my trust and my goodwill. He needs to be fired. There are plenty of people in the game show production sphere with show-running and hosting experience who could immediately step in and replace Richards and who don’t have these issues.
Meanwhile, Matt Amodio really shows no signs of stopping. Even when his opponents have run him closely, he’s been able to pull out a victory. If he wins today, he’ll be the first player to play under 4 different hosts.
PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to get their vaccinations as soon as they are able to. When wearing a mask, ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is a snake?
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.)
Trimeresurus Salazar is a species of pit viper recently discovered in western Arunachal Pradesh, India, and named after Salazar Slytherin from the Harry Potter series of books, authored by the transphobic JK Rowling. Slytherin was known in the novels for being a “parseltongue”, having the ability to talk to snakes.
(Relating this back to Jeopardy: Mike Richards would 100% be in Slytherin House if he were at Hogwarts.)
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Matt $25,600
Madeline $5,800
Patrick $4,200
Tonight’s results:
Patrick $4,200 + $4,200 = $8,400 (What is a snake?)
Madeline $5,800 – $2,601 = $3,199 (What is Harry Potter?)
Matt $25,600 + $10,000 = $35,600 (What is snake?) (13-day total: $430,200)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Matt $10,400
Patrick $2,600
Madeline $1,600
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) OCEANOGRAPHIC TERMS $1000 (clue #2)
Matt 1000 +1000 (Patrick 0 Madeline 0)
2) “G” I’D LIKE TO GO THERE $1200 (clue #1)
Madeline 1600 +1000 (Matt 10400 Patrick 2600)
3) ANCIENT SYMBOLS $1600 (clue #6, $28400 left on board)
Matt 10800 +2000 (Patrick 200 Madeline 5000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 169
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 209 (0.93 per episode average), 2 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Matt $25,200 Coryat, 34 correct, 3 incorrect, 59.65% in first on buzzer (34/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Patrick $4,200 Coryat, 8 correct, 4 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Madeline $6,000 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,400
Lach Trash: $9,000 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,600
Matt Amodio, career statistics:
406 correct, 50 incorrect
20/24 on rebound attempts (on 51 rebound opportunities)
53.56% in first on buzzer (391/730)
24/28 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $89,600)
9/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $24,908
Patrick Pacheco, career statistics:
9 correct, 4 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,200
Madeline Birkner, career statistics:
11 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,000
Matt Amodio, to win:
14 games: 88.821%
15: 78.892%
16: 70.073%
17: 62.240%
18: 55.282%
Avg. streak: 20.946 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- $154,000 has been donated thus far to the Robin Hood Foundation; $2,814,626 has been donated on behalf of all hosts.
- I would like to reiterate this for those who are asking why I’m not willing to give Mike Richards a chance: He lied to us as fans. He took a guest hosting spot under false pretenses. That action killed all intellectual credibility that he might have going forward. Once again: If he is willing to lie about that, what else is he willing to lie about? Jeopardy! is ostensibly a bastion of truth; having a liar as host takes that away.
- Also: the worst decision of the guest hosting era was to allow Dr. Oz a hosting stint; ratings fell about 18% from Katie Couric’s two weeks and viewers didn’t return; ratings stayed at a very similar level post-Oz.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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Now this is one specific FJ! category 😄Alas, I didn’t know it 😆🤷♀️
David Faber is by far the best guest host
I agree, although Mayim Bialik was also wonderful. LeVar Burton’s enthusiasm seemed a bit contrived at times.
Now that we know about that sleazy (not) old man Richards’ proclivities (and some old ones resurfacing), retaining him on any show (including ”Wheel” and ”Chain Reaction”) in any capacity would be a colossal PR disaster. Rather telling that his accusations resurfaced on the very same trade magazine that reported he was in “advanced negotiations” to begin with.
As for the Final Jeopardy clue, I never read Harry Potter, so I didn’t know it.
I’m with you on everything you said.
After next week, will Mike Rochards start regular hosting duties? Jeopardy will become “The Mike and Matt Show”
I think they should continue with guest hosts. Maybe give some past guests a other chance and offer guest hosting to classic old timers like Bob Barker and Bob Eubanks.
Have been an ardent jeopardy fan forever. Mike Richards as host will end that immediately. He is not only a sleazeball but a very boring host. Too bad.😢
Speaking of snakes….
I too am disappointed that Mike Richards is the probable heir apparent. I thought the majority of the guest hosts were very good and clearly a better choice should be made. That said, I was very surprised about all the LeVar Burton articles that suggested he should have been selected since he was above and beyond better that any guest host. He did an outstanding job but so did many others. I understand fan disappointment some of what I read seems over the top. Clearly, Richard’s should not be the choice. Too many better options including Mr. Burton.
Fork Mike Richards, have a feeling with these decade old allegations, they may have to start going into his past to see what else happened pre-TPIR.
Completely agreed on the Mike Richards situation. Honestly, my initial reaction was fierce disappointment but I could have accepted it pretty quickly with resentment and acknowledged my reaction as hyperbolic. With these allegations resurfacing though, as well as the fraudulent way the process was conducted? Yeah, miss me with this. I may honestly pass off my all-time leaderboard to someone else to keep track of if they go through with Richards as the host because I now believe the show has lost a ton of integrity. I really hope Sony takes this backlash seriously and listens to their viewers for once, but I’m not holding my breath.
When are they supposed to start shooting shows with the new host?
Fun fact: had Matt bet $201 more, he would have surpassed Dave Madden’s own streak winnings and taken the #4 spot on the streak earnings leaderboard.
I wpuld agree on the Mike Richards situation but since he is in negotiations to be a permanent host I don’t know what don’t would say.
Overall harry potter books and movies have been my favorite series so I got this one. The snakes have been very popular in India thus far. And a big congratulations to matt on his win today.
The Mike and Matt show will probably lose in the ratings. Diehard Jeopardy fans won’t go away. Mike is no Alex Trebek and Matt is no Ken Hennings.
Alan…Bob Barker at 95 (I think) is totally unable to host Jeopardy!. So we are back to either Ken or Buzzy as they did a great job. Faber as well. In the meantime we should all be in awe of Matt as he will no doubt end season 37 next Friday August 13th. So no matter who the new host ends up being, Matt will begin Season 38 playing his 19th game (we hope).
There are 10 people next week who have something to say about that.
Yes, safe to bet against anyone who isn’t one of the GOATs to win five straight games. Jeopardy is hard. I’ll be pulling for Matt, though!
The prediction model gives Matt a better than 50% chance of making it through next week, and though it could end Monday, still hoping! He might already be as fast and confident as Ken and James; if he can cut his incorrect responses in half, with a little luck he might pull off a very long streak, yet with about a 50 % chance to match Jason Z’s streak of 19 and a 45% chance to match Julie’s streak of 20 as is!
Meant Julia Collins!
I’m completely unfamiliar with Harry Potter. I said “Komodo dragon”, misreading the name as a reference to Lisbeth Salander.
On top of everything else said about Mike Richards, I didn’t think he was a very good host at all. He was very plastic, and especially during the interview segments, it seemed like he would rather have been anywhere else. I didn’t find him at all engaging.
Good lord people. If you don’t like whom Jeopardy makes as the host, then don’t watch it, it is as simple as that.
Also, I thought the show was all about the players (which I think I read here from someone before), not the host, so if Richards does become the permanent host, just live with it and get on with your life. There should be a hell of a lot more things important in everyone’s life instead of worrying who is the host of a game show.
It’s just a discussion, and this is a discussion board. No one said it was the most important topic in people’s lives. You’re the one who needs to calm down.
Couldn’t agree more. It’s just a tv game show. No matter who is given the job, it will never be the same w/o Alex.
And yet here you are.
Matt is great to watch, not just because of his knowledge but because he seems like a genuinely nice guy and is really enjoying himself. This is great for jeopardy and the ratings should climb as his streak grows.
I find it hard to believe that Mike Richards is in the running for Jeopardy host. Difficult it may be to replace Alex Trebek, but it isn’t necessary to dig in the bottom of the barrel for his successor. Not well thought out, or has he hidden weaponry?
There was an article about the fan-reaction kerfuffle in the August 5 NY Times
“A spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produces the show, would say only that discussions with potential hosts were ongoing.She added that the monthslong process of choosing a host was a ‘data-driven process’ that was taking into account the views of fans and focus groups.”
What the spokeswoman left off her list was the most important to it: the views of buyers of this syndicated show. Sony is going to choose a host that will allow it to sell the most shows at the highest price. Fans can have an impact after the fact by ceasing to watch the show, forcing show buyers to lower advertising rates and being less willing to buy it.
Count me as one of those who had no clue about FJ until I said to myself, “I bet this has something to do with Harry Potter” and guessed owl. Then something told me to change my guess to snake.
I actually thought Mike Richards was in the upper tier of guest hosts and really liked his style with the contestants but I guess I’ll need to do research on whatever is swirling in his background. That said, by this point I can’t imagine anyone other than either Ken Jennings or Mayim Bialak doing the show so I hope the official releases about the “advanced negotiations” with Richards are a ploy by Sony to test the waters and they are also negotiating with one of them. As much as I love Levar Burton and am glad he got to guest host, he wasn’t the best of the guest hosts though certainly much better than the likes of Katie Couric and Dr. Oz.
It’s interesting that with all this controversy going on, we have a potentially record breaking champion underscoring Alex Trebek’s favorite adage of the contestants are the true stars of the show.
Even though no one at Sony probably pays attention to this site, I would respectfully ask them to reconsider David Faber. He would make a fantastic host. Great pacing and he is contestant-centered.
I doubt Faber would want to leave CNBC. I think he’s probably the closest in hosting style to Richards.