Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 20, 2023, 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 Countries of Africa) for Monday, March 20, 2023 (Season 39, Game 136):
At one time a province of the Roman Empire, this kingdom is known to Arabic scholars as Al-Maghrib Al-Aqsa, “the far west”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Jake Garrett, a football coach & teacher from Trussville, Alabama
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Melissa Klapper, a professor from Merion Station, Pennsylvania
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Kelly Barry, a marketing communications specialist from Seattle, Washington (1-day total: $14,600)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
On Friday’s episode, Seattle’s Kelly Barry defeated 8-day champion Stephen Webb; she returns today to defend for the first time. Her challengers today are Melissa Klapper and Jake Garrett.
One thing that I’ve noticed that isn’t readily apparent to many Jeopardy! viewers: if you keep constantly having to use your brain extensively over the course of a day, your brain gets tired and doesn’t operate as optimally as it would have at the beginning. This happens with quiz bowlers after a long day, this happens with chess players after a long day, and this happens with Scrabble players after a long day. This also happened with Stephen at the end of a long taping day on Friday’s episode (it was his sixth taping of the day)—and it’s not something that is apparent to someone at home unless someone at home has also experienced this same phenomenon during their own life.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is Morocco?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
When the Arabs first settled the Moroccan area in the 7th century CE, the area was believed to be the westernmost location in the world; hence the name “Al-Maghrib”—Far West. During Roman times (between 300 BCE and 430 CE), it was known as Mauretania.
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: State Of The Airport; Gifts For The Sports Fan?; Quite The Fish Story; “Me”; Myself; & Eye)
The opening round saw all three players play very well; Kelly went all-in on an early Daily Double to jump into the lead, but Jake, then Melissa found the timing of the signalling device to both pass our returning champion by the end of 30.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Jake 6 correct 1 incorrect
Kelly 5 correct 0 incorrect
Melissa 3 correct 1 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jake 12 correct 1 incorrect
Melissa 10 correct 2 incorrect
Kelly 7 correct 1 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Unesco’S Intangible Cultural Heritage; Presidential Inaugurations; Alphabetic Homophones; Short Story, Shorter; Walk, The Line; Cry Uncle)
The Daily Doubles stayed hidden until very late in the round—clues 26 and 30, respectively! Melissa found both of them, but unfortunately failed to wager enough on the last one to cement a runaway! (Ken even pointed it out during Final.) Instead, Jake was still in with a faint hope going into the 61st clue; scores going into Final were Melissa at $24,400, Jake at $12,400, and Kelly at $8,200.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Melissa 22 correct 2 incorrect
Jake 21 correct 3 incorrect
Kelly 12 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 16 (0 today).
Final today was a triple-get; Melissa is your new champion! She’ll be back tomorrow to defend.
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, March 20, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Melissa $24,400
Jake $12,400
Kelly $8,200
Tonight’s results:
Kelly $8,200 + $8,000 = $16,200 (What is Morocco?)
Jake $12,400 + $12,400 = $24,800 (What is Morocco?)
Melissa $24,400 + $401 = $24,801 (What is Morocco?) (1-day total: $24,801)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jake $6,800
Melissa $5,200
Kelly $3,000
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) STATE OF THE AIRPORT $1000 (clue #4)
Kelly 1200 +1200 (Melissa 0 Jake 200)
2) CRY UNCLE $2000 (clue #26)
Melissa 15600 +5000 (Kelly 8200 Jake 12400)
3) ALPHABETIC HOMOPHONES $2000 (clue #30, $0 left on board)
Melissa 21400 +3000 (Kelly 8200 Jake 12400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 146
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Kelly 3 2 5*
Melissa
Jake 4
DJ! Round:
Kelly 2 3 1 2 5 4
Melissa 5 4 3 3 4 2 2 1 1 3 5* 2 3 4 5*
Jake 4 5 1 1 5 1 3 4 2
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Melissa 3.13
Jake 3.00
Kelly 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 16 (0.12 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Melissa $20,400 Coryat, 22 correct, 2 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Jake $12,400 Coryat, 21 correct, 3 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Kelly $8,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 2 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $40,800
Lach Trash: $7,000 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,200
Kelly Barry, career statistics:
30 correct, 4 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (26/114)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,200)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,800
Melissa Klapper, career statistics:
23 correct, 2 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $20,400
Jake Garrett, career statistics:
22 correct, 3 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,400
Melissa Klapper, to win:
2 games: 76.250%
3: 58.141%
4: 44.332%
5: 33.804%
6: 25.775%
Avg. streak: 4.211 games.
Today’s interviews:
Jake met Chuck Norris while in college.
Melissa has written four books and is writing a fifth.
Kelly tried to reduce disposable plastic for a month with her partner.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I don’t really need to say more—I think Ken said enough during Final Jeopardy! regarding Melissa’s wager on the final Daily Double.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Melissa $24,400 Jake $12,400 Kelly $8,200)
Kelly: Limit your bet to $7,399 and take second place if Jake is incorrect in Final. (Actual bet: $8,000)
Melissa: Standard cover bet over Jake is $401. (Actual bet: $401)
Jake: Bet at least $11,601. (Actual bet: $12,400)
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Pretty basic Roman history, although independent study of the region looks enticing.
An easy get for me! As I have mentioned before, I volunteer to do a Culture Group at our Community Center, and, quite a while ago, the topic was Morocco. So I knew the Arabic name and meaning. A people known as Berbers to outsiders, but who call themselves Amazigh, have lived in what is now Morocco for many centuries, now mostly in the sparse mountain and desert regions, but also in the cities. Their dialects, together with Arabic and French, are the official languages of Morocco, reflecting a history of colonization.
On a more seasonable note, today is the first day of Spring. Yay!
On a humorous seasonable note, this morning on our first day of Spring, our temperature was 14 degrees (Fahrenheit)! [small town in the southeast U.S.]
Got it on an educated guess!
Your point on contestants being tired on a long day makes a lot of sense. Matt Amodio and James Holzhauer looked tired on their last games.
I think both of them taped their final games on the first game of the day, but I do agree that they looked a little bit frazzled going into their final game. I’m not sure why Matt’s buzzer timing just left him when it did in that game, but he still got in first on the buzzer his share of the time and had the most correct responses in that game. James had the highest Coryat, the highest first on buzzer %, and the most correct answers – the problem is, Emma Boettcher managed to snatch up both Double Jeopardy Daily Doubles (and bet big on them) before James could find them. So I think it’s a combination of being tired at the beginning of the day and facing two very strong opponents. (You could say that Ryan Long – who also lost on his first game of the day – experienced the same thing.)
If anything, Stephen looked quite fatigued during the day (week) and was a little lucky to win some of those. Today’s tape day on J archive is 1/10, so he would’ve gotten a 3 week holiday break if he could’ve won one more.
I’m a fan of the movie Casablanca and the song Marrakesh Express, but I did not know this answer.
I am a huge fan of the casablanca movie since I knew morocco. Glad to see a triple solve today by all the players. Congrats melissa
It seems a little unfair to me that Stephen had to tape 6 games in one day. Has any other contestant ever had to tape more than 5 in a single day?
I’m assuming there’s an error as the model begins with an estimate of Melissa’s chance of winning three games.
Yes; corrected, thank you.
Strong overall game by Melissa. Fortunately for her, her underbet by $401 on the last DD did not cost her in the end.
I would’ve called the FJ category “Countries of the World”, so at least Spain would be a potential distractor.
Interesting thought, this. I hadn’t considered that.
I wish I could say that I knew African geography inside and out, but I don’t.
But for some unknown reason, near the end of “Think” I said “Morroco.” And, to my surprise, I was right,