Warning: This page contains spoilers for the October 20, 2022 game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category International Borders) for Thursday, October 20, 2022 (Season 39, Game 29):
2 of the 3 countries that share land borders with Russia & China
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Molly Karol, a CPA from Austin, Texas Molly’s semi-final: Tuesday, October 18, 2022 |
Jessica Stephens, a statistical research specialist from Nashville, Tennessee Jessica’s semi-final: Monday, October 17, 2022 |
James Fraser, a Naval aviator from Newport Beach, California James’s semi-final: Wednesday, October 19, 2022 |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We are now at the first of two finals in the first-ever Jeopardy! Second Chance competition (brought to you by Moderna). Yes, boosters are important in the fight against COVID, and bivalent boosters are now available. Please get them.
Over the first three days of this tournament, Jessica Stephens, Molly Karol, and James Fraser all made it out of the semifinals; the winner after tomorrow will get a spot in the Tournament of Champions, starting October 31! My prediction model has James as the favorite to win over the next two days—Wednesday’s game was especially strong against a player (Pam Schoenberg) that many fans had thought was going to win herself. James is a very strong player at the bottom of the board and was certainly overlooked by many coming into this competition. However, absolutely anything can happen—as I heard on ESPN’s NFL coverage many a time during my formative years, “that’s why they play the games.” All three of Jessica, Molly, and James have a chance to win this match, and I suspect that it will be close!
For those who might not be as familiar with how a two-game total point final works, the scores from the first game are reset to zero at the start of the second, but added back at the conclusion of the second game to determine the ultimate winner. That means that strategy is changed slightly from the regular single-game matches, as Final Jeopardy! on Day 1 plays more like a Daily Double available to all contestants, and the math is more difficult on Day 2’s Final Jeopardy’s betting.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What are (2 of) Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and North Korea?
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.)
Looking at a map of Asia, two of these are much more obvious than the third; both Kazakhstan and Mongolia share significant borders with both Russia and China. However, there is a tiny portion near the mouth of the Tumen River (near its entry into the Sea of Japan) that is a land border between Russia and North Korea. There is also a railroad border crossing, near Tumangang, North Korea and Khasan, Russia—the Pont de l’Amitié, marked by the Korea–Russia Friendship House.
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Southern Cities; Phobias; A Matter Of Wife & Death; 4-Letter Food & Drink; Strong Words; Medical Drama)
Jessica got out to a great start, finding the Daily Double and playing very well at the top of the board. James, however, played very well at the bottom of the board to keep pace; there was only one Triple Stumper the entire round!
Statistics at the first break (16 clues):
James 7 correct 0 incorrect
Jessica 7 correct 0 incorrect
Molly 2 correct 0 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jessica 14 correct 0 incorrect
James 10 correct 0 incorrect
Molly 5 correct 0 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historical Wear; Poets & Poetry; It Has A Name; Crossword Clues “M”; There’s A Sequel; Medical Drama)
The extremely strong play continued in Double Jeopardy!; James found both Daily Doubles and continued his weird betting on Daily Doubles—hopefully, this doesn’t mess up the math for him tomorrow—as he got 1 of them correct. Molly and Jessica had strong rounds as well, but it was James who led into Final. Going into Final, James had $19,930, Jessica $15,600, and Molly $10,400.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
James 20 correct 2 incorrect
Jessica 22 correct 0 incorrect
Molly 14 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).
All 3 players both got the Final correct and made healthy wagers—things will be very interesting tomorrow!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, October 20, 2022, Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
James $19,930
Jessica $15,600
Molly $10,400
Tonight’s results:
Molly $10,400 + $5,200 = $15,600 (What are Mongolia & North Korea?)
Jessica $15,600 + $13,000 = $28,600 (What are Mongolia & Kazakhstan?)
James $19,930 + $10,999 = $30,929 (What are Mongolia + North Korea)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jessica $7,600
James $7,000
Molly $2,800
Opening break taken after: 16 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) SOUTHERN CITIES $600 (clue #3)
Jessica 800 +1000 (James 1000 Molly 0)
2) HISTORICAL WEAR $1600 (clue #5)
James 6600 +4699 (Jessica 7600 Molly 4400)
3) POETS & POETRY $2000 (clue #11, $20400 left on board)
James 16899 -2569 (Jessica 7600 Molly 4800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 156
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 8 (0.28 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
James $19,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 2 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
Jessica $15,200 Coryat, 22 correct, 0 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Molly $10,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $45,000
Lach Trash: $3,800 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,200
James Fraser, career statistics:
65 correct, 7 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
45.32% in first on buzzer (63/139)
3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,829)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,533
Jessica Stephens, career statistics:
57 correct, 2 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
29.24% in first on buzzer (50/171)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,500)
3/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,267
Molly Karol, career statistics:
52 correct, 11 incorrect
6/8 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities)
28.65% in first on buzzer (49/171)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $13,000)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,467
Today’s interviews:
Molly feels incredible to make the finals.
Jessica prepared by taking improv classes.
James has colleagues who were surprised to hear James had been invited back.
Prediction for tomorrow:
After 100,000 simulations, we predict:
James:
1st: 60.192% of the time.
2nd: 32.385% of the time.
3rd: 7.423% of the time.
Jessica:
1st: 32.759% of the time.
2nd: 51.300% of the time.
3rd: 15.941% of the time.
Molly:
1st: 7.049% of the time.
2nd: 16.315% of the time.
3rd: 76.636% of the time.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Because anything earned tomorrow in Final Jeopardy! can be doubled, James’s “effective lead” is $1,164.50 over Jessica and $7,664.50 over Molly.
- Today’s box score: October 20, 2022 Box Score.
- Wagering suggestions will not be posted as today’s Final Jeopardy! situation is effectively a Daily Double.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
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I knew Mongolia and guessed North Korea.
Yeah, Mongolia is the one almost everyone will remember. I thought of Kazakhstan after a moment. I never realized that the Russian border wrapped around to NK until now😅
James was my history teacher before he joined the Navy! Go Mr. Fraser!!
That is a real fun fact
It was not difficult to visualize, and one year of playing Worldle makes you more focused on the global maps.
Did we not have a Mongolia question recently as a border between China and Russia?
As a large country between Siberia and Manchuria, Mongolia is probably the easiest answer. I happened to know about North Korea because of a previous Final Jeopardy where the answers were Pyongyang and Moscow. I figured the third country had to be one of the eastern former republics (one of the ‘stans) but I never would have been able to narrow it down.
I remember that clue – the two national capitals from bordering countries that are the farthest apart. I believe everyone had Moscow as half of the answer but the second capital varied.
I hope if the winner makes over a combined total of $35,000 they will get that instead like other happenings in previous tournaments.
I knew mongolia immediately. North korea as well since mongolia is a big country The third one has to be on the border of china. Besides this is more of a geography lesson since I am pretty strong at that subject.
“The third one has to be on the border of china” is literally part of the actual Final Jeopardy clue, just worded slightly differently. Did you notice that between the three of them the contestants gave all three possible correct countries?
When I was teaching (primarily English as a second language) the International Class at my church, I had students from Kazakhstan among many other countries (not North Korea, of course). Because of my students I took a closer look at that region of the world. Thanks to that experience I was easily able to come up with all three choices. I was delighted to see that all three contestants got this one. As predicted by Andy and many others, this was a very competitive game. That will make for a very interesting and exciting conclusion tomorrow.
By the way, has anyone seen anything as to why James wagers the way he does? Yesterday’s wager made me think it had something to do with the military. His wager of $3699 was pretty close to the MASH unit 4077. This made me think it might have some significance to his Navy career. Any ideas? Has he tweeted or commented anywhere on this?
I wonder if it could be something strategically pre-planned to relieve the pressure of deciding whether to bet low to be safe or high to “try for it”? I don’t mean the actual amount pre-planned (though it could kind of be that way if he just thought about what meaningful “odd” numbers he could use if he needed one within certain ranges), just for each daily double, thinking of a good range for his bet and then picking a meaningful number in that range instead of stressing over which end of the range to pick.
Or maybe he just wanted to distract the other contestants, making them subconsciously wonder what he’s doing?
I would presume to take the pressure off that dollar at the end in Final Jeopardy, but I think he overbet earlier in this tournament by $1,000.
Great game. I’m enjoying this tournament.
Man, I was so sure I was going to be right when I said the pickleball shot was a “dill”.
Lol
Clever!
For the Daily Double that James got wrong, I am showing my ignorance of classic literature but admitting that I guessed Dante’s Inferno, but after googling it, I think my wrong guess was better than his. (But based on many of the Google results, I think a lot of other people must also get Dante’s Inferno and Paradise Lost mixed up.)
Dang, I meant “by admitting”, not but admitting”.
I am not clear on whether today’s totals actually get added into Friday’s BEFORE the Friday Final Jeopardy bet or it is just that when choosing how much to bet for FJ in that game, each contestant will need to think about how today’s total will affect their ultimate total AFTER they do or do not get their FJ response correct.
Lisa, your second supposition is correct. Today’s total is added in after all is said and done tomorrow, but the players do need to factor them into their wagers in tomorrow’s Final.
Lisa:
It is the latter. Thursday’s totals get added after Friday’s game concludes.
I can’t believe that Jessica has only missed 2 questions in her career. That is impressive. I would like her to win, but I think James is the favorite. They are both very impressive players. Molly is strong, too, but a step down from the other 2.
I guessed Kazikstan and North Korea, but I had no idea if I was correct.
Fantastic level of play by all 3 contestants. Looking forward to Friday’s game!
Wish I could say that like ao many posters could visualize a map of that region, and, got Thursday’s Final right. But Molly should take Alex.x caution on many of the first day of a two game final, the player in third, though far behind at the begining of day two, has come back more than once to win the championship.