Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 9, 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 Landmarks) for Thursday, March 9, 2023 (Season 39, Game 129):
After its completion in the late 19th c., it was called “a truly tragic street lamp” & a “high & skinny pyramid of iron ladders”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Justin Bolsen, a first-year student at Brown University from Canton, Georgia (Yesterday’s total: $13,570)
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Maya Wright, a senior at Emory University from Peachtree City, Georgia (Yesterday’s total: $3,370)
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Jackson Jones, a junior at Vanderbilt University from Louisville, Kentucky (Yesterday’s total: $24,000)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today is the fourteenth and final day of the High School Reunion Tournament; Jackson Jones jumped into the lead yesterday after he was the only player to get Final Jeopardy! correct. However, both Maya Wright and Justin Bolsen are still within striking distance if they go on a roll today. However, Jackson is still in the driver’s seat at this point. One reminder is that today’s scores get added to yesterday’s to determine the tournament champion.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is the Eiffel Tower?
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.)
Built as the centerpiece of the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, the Eiffel Tower is now seen as one of the cultural icons of both Paris and France, it was never universally loved. Even during its construction, French thinkers and writers panned it and heavily protested its construction. Joris-Karl Huysmans referred to it as “a suppository ridden with holes”, Leon Bloy made the “truly tragic street lamp” comment, and Guy de Maupassant saying “this high and skinny pyramid of iron ladders, this giant ungainly skeleton”. Time, however, won against Gustave Eiffel’s marvel of engineering and architecture, and the controversy fizzled due to the tower’s popularity.
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: College Sports Stuff; The Long-Ago 20th Century; Can We “Dis”cuss?; A Business, Major; One-Syllable Body Parts; Let’s Get Dirty)
A missed Daily Double by Jackson and seven overall incorrect responses caused the scores to be slightly lower than usual, but it was a very competitive game still very up for grabs with 31 clues to go!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Jackson 7 correct 1 incorrect
Justin 4 correct 1 incorrect
Maya 2 correct 0 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jackson 11 correct 3 incorrect
Justin 10 correct 3 incorrect
Maya 6 correct 1 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: First Words; 4-Letter Geography; There’s A Name In The Title; Inside Ballet & Opera; You, Robot; Take Me To Your Leader)
Maya caught fire in Double Jeopardy, picking up $10,000 in Coryat on just seven correct responses, plus $3,000 on a Daily Double! Meanwhile, Jackson had an opportunity to put the tournament away on the final Daily Double, but was incorrect again! The remaining 12 clues were very exciting, as all three players were very close in overall scores! Scores going into Final were Maya at $14,200 ($3,370 yesterday), Justin at $11,000 ($13,570 yesterday), and Jackson at $5,600 ($24,000 yesterday). Everyone’s maximum possible scores: Maya $31,770; Jackson $35,200; Justin $35,570. (Therefore, Justin is considered to be “leading” right now).
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Maya 13 correct 1 incorrect
Justin 18 correct 3 incorrect
Jackson 20 correct 7 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 16 (0 today).
Final Jeopardy! was a triple get—Justin wagered enough, and he’s your $100,000 champion!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, March 9, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Maya $14,200
Justin $11,000
Jackson $5,600
Tonight’s results:
Jackson $5,600 + $5,598 = $11,198 + $24,000 = $35,198 ($50,000) (What is the Eiffel Tower? ❤️ you all!)
Justin $11,000 + $10,991 = $21,991 + $13,570 = $35,561 (What is the Eiffel Tower? Hi dad :)) ($100,000)
Maya $14,200 + $7,040 = $21,240 + $3,370 = $24,610 ($25,000) (What is the Eiffel Tower?)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jackson $3,600
Justin $3,000
Maya $2,400
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Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) ONE-SYLLABLE BODY PARTS $1000 (clue #4)
Jackson 1600 -1600 (Maya 0 Justin 1000)
2) TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER $1200 (clue #12)
Maya 4000 +3000 (Jackson 7200 Justin 7000)
3) INSIDE BALLET & OPERA $1600 (clue #18, $8400 left on board)
Jackson 7200 -3200 (Maya 11800 Justin 8200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -69
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Jackson 4 5*
Maya 5
Justin 4
DJ! Round:
Jackson 2 3 4 5 4 4*
Maya 5 4 5 3* 5 4 3 3
Justin 5 4 3 3
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Justin 3.80
Maya 4.11
Jackson 3.88
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:
Justin $11,000 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Maya $12,400 Coryat, 13 correct, 1 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Jackson $10,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 7 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,800
Lach Trash: $9,200 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,000
Jackson Jones, career statistics:
141 correct, 26 incorrect
6/8 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
41.69% in first on buzzer (143/343)
7/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,200)
4/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,767
Maya Wright, career statistics:
150 correct, 16 incorrect
11/13 on rebound attempts (on 32 rebound opportunities)
30.75% in first on buzzer (139/452)
6/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,800)
5/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,600
Justin Bolsen, career statistics:
123 correct, 17 incorrect
6/8 on rebound attempts (on 27 rebound opportunities)
34.50% in first on buzzer (118/342)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,701)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,900
Today’s interviews:
Justin wants to give a shoutout to his sister.
Maya wants to give a shoutout to her grandmother.
Jackson wants to thank his family and his mother.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Anyone who claims that Maya lost because of the size of her wager is incorrect and does not understand how Final Jeopardy! wagering works in a two-day tournament. No matter what Maya wagered today, Justin and Jackson’s correct responses and sufficient wagers themselves today guaranteed third place for Maya.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Maya $14,200 ($3,370) Justin $11,000 ($13,570) Jackson $5,600 ($24,000))
Jackson: Bet $2,171 to cover Maya. This might be a situation where you probably shouldn’t wager any more than you have to, just in case Maya underbets. (Actual bet: $5,598)
Maya: Bet at least $9,860 in order to ensure victory if you’re the only player correct in Final. However, because you need to be correct to win — you might as well not worry about the math and go all in. (Actual bet: $7,040)
Justin: Bet at least $10,631 to cover Jackson; however, being that you lose if you’re incorrect, you might as well not worry about the math and go all in. (Actual bet: $10,991)
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With the category landmarks, after reading “After its completion in the late 19th c.,” Eiffel Tower was my first thought – and the rest of the clue confirmed it.
This seems too easy for the final clue in a tournament. I’m expecting a triple get. Justin and Maya really need to find the Daily Doubles to have any hope of overtaking Jackson.
That was my thought on reading the clue. It seemed so obvious that I had to reread it to make sure I wasn’t misinterpreting it somehow🧐😅
Exactly. I would like to understand the thought behind such an easy final clue in a tournament.
I agree that this one does not appear to be worthy of the final clue of a tournament. Expect it would give an advantage to whoever was ahead after day 1 (Jackson here — Justin and Maya may be in a position where they need some help (Jackson missing the final question) and that seems very unlikely with this question). Will be very surprised if this is not a triple get.
Hope they do not put the final scores up again today at the beginning of the game. Seems really odd to me that they did that. Its not like those would have been up there for some reason but they just forgot to take them down in the editing process. Seems like they were somehow showing Mayim wishing the contestants well in today’s game (where they will have yesterday’s scores on the screens before today’s game starts). Maybe that was the edit that got messed up?
About the final scores on the opening screens, your thought had been my assumption. It seems like incompetence on someone’s part and lack of quality control on someone else’s.Perhaps it had to be done by someone who was not used to doing that job — people are still having to unexpectedly miss work due to COVID unlike in the past when some people would just come on in when they had the flu (not that I am saying they should have done so).
Yeah, this. I got it instantly and was not surprised it was a triple get. Too much description – what else could it have been? If it were “When it was first constructed in the 1800s, it was called a ‘truly tragic street lamp’ by one critic” it would be quite a bit harder. More of a time window and no easy pairing of iron ladders and light. In that instance, Maya betting low (compared to the suggested wager) could have actually cost her, if she got it solo the way she did Roget. That clue was more appropriate for the finals, to be honest, as was yesterday’s.
Easy get. I’ve been there, many years ago. The best thing about it is the view of Paris outstretched below by night—truly “the City of Lights”.
Even though there would have been fewer lights in the late 19th century, it still must have been a beautiful view and with no high-rises and few balloon rides, something few people had really gotten to see in relatively flat Paris. In it’s own way it is a lovely structure, but I bet Gustave Eiffel designed it in service of providing that view (especially at night).
I’m actually super nervous on Jackson’s behalf. I really hope he wins tonight!
Construction late 19th century points to one of two things, street lamp immediately narrows it down to the Eiffel Tower. Kind of odd that some harder Finals were played in the semis that didn’t always reward the regular gameplay leader, but today’s will almost certainly crown whoever is in the lead.
I got this one pretty quickly since the construction of the eiffel tower took place in the late 19th century with the street lamps and everything els. Still though this should be a triple get for our players!
Andy, when you do “Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:” do you to any degree take into account the APPARENT difficulty or easiness of the FJ category? I’m thinking NOT since there could have been an obscure fact within the category ‘Landmarks’ (even though the meaning of the word itself implies “well known”) or a super easy “everyone knows this” fact in a seemingly obscure and boundless category like ‘Bacteria’, but just wondering.
I was hoping Maya would find a way to pull out a victory, but she did make the final close. Congratulations to Justin for the win and to all three finalists for a good match!
If anything Maya made a completely logical and strategic bet. There is another bet that is a lot more questionable but in the end it didn’t matter anyhow.
Hi Mr. Saunders,
Fun website!
What does “coryat”mean?
Have a good weekend.
Fred:
A Coryat score is a player’s score if all wagering is disregarded; it’s a better metric for a player’s overall play on the 60 clues. It’s also a really good play-at-home metric. https://www.j-archive.com/help.php#coryatscore
Justin, my guess to win this tournament from the beginning. Now onto the TOC for him. Good for him.
I’m glad he won. Probably one of the youngest to make the TOC
My sentimental favorite was Claire. Once she was eliminated, my choice was Justin so I’m glad to see he won.
This was really a good, close final. Congratulations to all of today’s contestants for a game well-played and to all of the participants on a tournament that I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.
Great game today- congratulations to all three finalists.
The order of contestants in Final Jeopardy should really be determined after taking into account the previous day’s scores and doing the max score calculations. Often in these 2 day total score games the winner is already known before the last player’s FJ is revealed.
My sentiments exactly.
I got this Final Jeopardy from the comment of “iron ladders” in the clue. Once. I heard/saw that, I automatically said “What is the Eiffel Tower.” Without that comment I might not have gotten it.
After seeing Magic host for the past nine games, it will be strange to see Ken host Friday to finish the week.
And, did Mayim’s remarks at the start of this game mean that there will be a second “reunion” tournament next year? .And, what about the return of the regular “teen tournament” and/ or the Teachers/College Professors tournaments? (Presume the College tournament will return as the “National College Championship” in prime time.)