Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category European Cities) for Thursday, March 3, 2022 (Season 38, Game 124):
Pizzo means protection money; the Addiopizzo movement was founded in this city in 2004
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Louis Dellaperuta, an EMT from Cranston, Rhode Island
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Ryan Pressman, a musician from Canoga Park, California
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Margaret Shelton, a homemaker from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2-day total: $41,000)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Margaret Shelton returns as a 2-day champion in today’s game against Ryan Pressman and Louis Dellaperuta. Margaret’s Final Jeopardy! strategy is transparent: Bet the difference in scores between first and second. It’s worked out for her so far, with her surviving a pair of triple-get Finals, but the term “playing with fire” has been seen in many discussion areas recently. Will her risky strategy keep paying off for her?
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is Palermo, Italy?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2022 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Palermo is the major city of the Italian island of Sicily; the Addiopizzo movement was founded there by a group of five graduates who wanted to open a bar, but did not want to pay protection money to the Mafia located in the area. The group’s supporters committed to purchasing only from Palermo businesses who are on the Addiopizzo list, and expanded to a second Sicilian city, Catania, in 2006.
(This was an easier clue for me, as there’s a large Italian diaspora in my hometown here in Canada. We’ll see if the contestants do well with it.)
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strong>Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round categories: Detroit: News Clues, 4-Syllable Words, Earth Science, Getting Down to Business, What’s My Name?, Beatles “Love” Songs
Ryan definitely had the best time of the opening of the game, also finding the first Daily Double—but he didn’t get it correct. Probably a good thing that he only wagered clue value, then! Margaret recovered to nearly tie the game by the first commercial break. Coming out of the break, all three players played well, and Ryan held onto a slim lead.
Double Jeopardy! Round categories: 1972: 50 Years Ago, Esperanto Film Festival, Arts News, Fibers & Fabrics, Book Characters, Eponyms & Toponyms
Louis opened Double Jeopardy! strong, but was derailed slightly when he found—and missed the first Daily Double in the round. It remained a very close game until Ryan found the last Daily Double—and he doubled through it in a daring move to break the game open! Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to parlay it into a runaway, and all three players had a chance in Final.
In Final, Margaret and Louis got things correct, and Margaret was able to bet enough this time to make her a 3-day champion!
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, March 3, 2022 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Ryan $14,800
Margaret $8,600
Louis $8,200
Tonight’s results:
Louis $8,200 + $8,000 = $16,200 (What is Palermo?)
Margaret $8,600 + $8,600 = $17,200 (What is Palermo?) (3-day total: $58,200)
Ryan $14,800 – $2,401 = $12,399 (What is MiL)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ryan $5,200
Margaret $4,600
Louis $3,800
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) EARTH SCIENCE $600 (clue #8)
Ryan 2600 -600 (Margaret 400 Louis -400)
2) 1972: 50 YEARS AGO $2000 (clue #6)
Louis 7800 -2000 (Margaret 4600 Ryan 5600)
3) ARTS NEWS $1200 (clue #23, $9600 left on board)
Ryan 7200 +7200 (Margaret 6200 Louis 8600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 51
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: EPONYMS & TOPONYMS $2000
Total Left On Board: $2,000
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 29 (0.23 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Margaret $8,600 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 26.79% in first on buzzer (15/56), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Louis $10,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 5 incorrect, 37.50% in first on buzzer (21/56), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Ryan $9,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 4 incorrect, 28.57% in first on buzzer (16/56), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $28,200
Lach Trash: $12,400 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,400
Margaret Shelton, career statistics:
65 correct, 8 incorrect
8/8 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
35.93% in first on buzzer (60/167)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $0)
3/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,267
Ryan Pressman, career statistics:
16 correct, 5 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
28.57% in first on buzzer (16/56)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,600)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,400
Louis Dellaperuta, career statistics:
18 correct, 5 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
37.50% in first on buzzer (21/56)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,200
Margaret Shelton, to win:
4 games: 43.550%
5: 18.966%
6: 8.260%
7: 3.597%
8: 1.567%
Avg. streak: 3.771 games.
Today’s interviews:
Louis got the chance to see the milestones in his daughter’s life because of work-from-home.
Ryan is a multi-instrumentalist.
Margaret grew up in Mississippi and has had a lot of wanderlust.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- There’s certainly been a lot of discussion in the comments about the fairness of today’s Final Jeopardy clue; I’m still OK with how it read and how it’s played.
Final Jeopardy! betting suggestions:
Margaret: I would recommend going all-in, this is a crush game. You’re welcome to bet just $7,801 if you really want, just in case Louis goes all in.
Ryan: Margaret has been notoriously conservative to the point where I’m not sure she’ll bet enough today. Keep your bet to $2,401 and you’ll be fine.
Louis: At minimum, $4,200. You’re welcome to hold back something if you want to try to out-maneuvre Margaret for second; if you do that, bet no more than $7,399.
Link to the box score: March 3, 2022 Box Score
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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I remember around the same time, 2004, there was a crackdown on the organized crime rings in the Naples (my answer) area…as I recall, they controlled the garbage collection business.
I knew that they had trouble with the Mafia in Naples and that is why I guessed it as the city.
Ditto.
Poor clue as there is nothing to distinguish the answer from Naples.
I would say that the distinguishing is knowing that the Sicilian mafia is more prominent in terms of protection rackets than the Neapolitan one.
I would argue that the word “Cities” in the title of FJ will veer people away from Sicily (an island) towards Naples (certainly a more prominent city than Palermo). What is disappointing is the writing team not anticipating an equally plausible answer as adding a few more words would have made the clue far more robust.
I will grant that today’s clue might not be the easiest for everybody.
I’ll also grant that I had an easier time with this clue, as I grew up in an area that had a significant Italian diaspora (if not even a Sicilian diaspora).
But again: I hear protection racket, I think Sicily, and not Naples. And, from there, I picked the island’s most prominent city. And, I think that was the thought process that the show was going for, that the Sicilian mafia is more associated with protection rackets than the Neapolitan one.
I really don’t think that the clue as written was unfair, even if this clue gets 3 Naples from the contestants.
Then we will have to agree to disagree. IMO, the very fact that a majority of responders took the wrong route to another plausible answer means that the wording needed more TLC.
Based on what transpired on the show, it does look like you were on the right track and I stand corrected.
Not just that two of them “got” Palermo, but that Ryan didn’t think Naples.
That was the same line of thought I followed Protection>Sicily>Palermo shrug
I had no idea what Margaret would bet in FJ, I was half-expecting her to go $6200. I’m glad that she went strong for the win and I’ll be hoping to see her go for win #4 tomorrow.
After some hesitation, I guessed Palermo, and for me the distinguishing was that it was a FJ clue, so the first Italian city associated with the Mafia that comes to mind is not it.
After thoughts and co sideration I apso got Palermo as this is where the italian mafia came in since law and order had a lot of mafia crime bosses in little italy in new york city way back then.
The fact is that the Addiopizzo movement was founded in Palermo rather than Naples. The clues should not necessarily be made easier for everyone when there is only one correct answer.
The idea of FJ is to cater to the right brain with sufficient hints to steer one to the answer…your point is fair if Addiopizzo movement has percolated into mainstream consciousness. But since it has not (you may disagree here) and Naples has a prominent association as a mafia city, anything that pointed away from the mainland would have made this a much better clue. Even changing the category name to ISLAND CITIES would have been fine. As written, this would have been a good high value clue in the regular rounds with the topic as “Mafia”.
“City” initially made me think Naples (as the closest major world city to Sicily), but then I remembered learning that Corleone was considerably bigger than I had assumed based on its portrayal on screen. So I went in that closer but still wrong direction instead, assuming Jeopardy would expect me to make a stronger connection between Mafia & Corleone than Mafia and Naples.
I do think the wording was a bit tricky. Even if you get that they are pushing you in the direction of the Sicilian Mafia, I’m not sure that it is an easy call between Palermo and Corleone. Britannica calls Corleone a city. The official name in Italian is “Citta di Corleone”. It is a lot bigger than the “town” I live in, but dramatically smaller than the nearby Palermo. Apparently it is both a city on its own, as well as a part of the larger administrative unit known as the Metropolitan City of Palermo, which covers that whole region of Sicily.
This seems like the kind of question where knowing too much is as dangerous as knowing too little. Normally I would default to guessing the much larger and presumably more famous city, but Corleone is more connected to the Mafia in pop culture thanks to the Godfather series. Very curious to see what answers come up today.
I too thought of The Godfather movie to get Sicily, then the movie Patton and his zeal to get to Palermo.
Margaret has been such a delight so far. Glad to see a wager aggressive enough to get the win (come from behind or otherwise). Regular, original recipe wagering 🙂
Couldn’t agree more about Margaret. She is a breath of fresh air. And I too am thrilled that she departed from her conservative FJ betting style to win today.
I wonder what made her change.
I grew up watching The Untouchables on TV with Robert Stack as Elliott Ness, Neville Brand as Al Capone and Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti, so this was easy for me. My brother and I knew everything about the Mafia.
Exactly. Presumably it’s younger folks who have less knowledge of the Mafia.
Great game. Glad Margaret came through in the end.
I thought Louis at the least should have been given a chance to revise his answer “hide your love away”, either by a long pause or a prompt for more info.
I enjoy Margaret’s politeness.
Agreed. She seems like an absolute sweetheart and is one of the most enjoyable contestants to watch of all time.