Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 2, 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 Medical History) for Tuesday, May 2, 2023 (Season 39, Game 167):
A vaccine against this respiratory illness came out in the U.S. in 1914 & eventually combined with 2 other vaccines
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Amanda Hendrickson, a costumer from Highland Village, Texas
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Paul Guelpa, an attorney from Rossmoor, California
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Kevin Belle, a trail planner from Silver Spring, Maryland (2-day total: $24,398)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
2-day champion Kevin Belle (or, should I say "Whiskey Ginger", after Kevin's Zoom trivia–hosting drag persona) has survived a pair of Triple Stumper Final Jeopardy clues in his two victories. Today's challengers are California attorney Paul Guelpa and Texas costumer Amanda Hendrickson. (Meanwhile, I'm surprised that the show didn't try to find someone named "Ghibellina" to match with someone named "Guelpa". Yes, it's a deep historical cut.)
In other important news, Jeopardy!'s writers are now on strike after the WGA called a strike overnight. What does this mean for the show right now? It appears as though production is continuing; the writers would have been asked to prioritize finishing as many game boards as possible before last night. In terms of episode production, the final six episodes of Jeopardy! Masters, as well as the final four weeks of Season 39, have yet to be taped. It appears as though non-writing production will continue; however, IATSE (the union that represents many behind-the-scenes workers) has stated that employees "retain their right to honor a lawful picked line", but the studios also retain the right to temporarily replace workers who do not cross that picket line. What will likely end up happening, though, is that the writing quality may suffer, for two reasons: firstly, the writers would have been rushed to finish games; secondly, revisions may not be possible due to the strike.
If you're going to be a contestant over the final four weeks of the season, I would highly recommend going back about five to ten years and memorizing as much of J! Archive as you can. During the last strike in 2008, there were instances where Jeopardy! would essentially lift past categories wholesale from about a decade earlier.
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 can, including any boosters as recommended. When wearing a mask, please ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is pertussis (whooping cough)?
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.)
In the late 1900s and early 1910s, artificially-grown pertussis bacterium began to be grown by Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou of the Pasteur Institute; experimentation then began, using their methods, on developing a vaccine for pertussis, also known as whooping cough. In 1914, the American Medical Association listed the pertussis vaccine. By the 1920s, a pertussis outbreak was controlled by the vaccine in the Faeroe Islands. Later, by 1948, the pertussis vaccine was combined with vaccines for diphtheria and tetanus, known as the DTP vaccine; it was replaced by the DTaP (diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis) in 1991. The vaccine has managed to reduce the number of cases of pertussis in the United States by over 97%.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, May 2, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: They Won The Battle; A Jr. In Entertainment; Mind Your Grammar; Australian Wildlife; Double Double Letters; Jeopair! Boarding Process)
Paul got off to the best start, but fell back to $0 after a missed Daily Double. However, Paul did play well enough to Amanda struggled with incorrect responses on high-valued clues and was in the red after 30 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Kevin 3 correct 0 incorrect
Paul 5 correct 3 incorrect
Amanda 3 correct 4 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Amanda has a MadLib from Neil Gaiman as an anniversary gift.
Paul interrupted David Hasselhoff on the “Baywatch” set.
Kevin had to answer “Seinfeld” trivia for his birthday.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Paul 12 correct 3 incorrect
Kevin 7 correct 0 incorrect
Amanda 6 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Paul $4,600
Kevin $3,600
Amanda -$1,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Mythology; Nonfiction; Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants; TV & Movie Comedies; World Cities; That’s So “Extra”)
The writers’ failure to anticipate an alternate correct response on the opening clue of Double Jeopardy! was compounded when the Daily Double was found on clue #2. Amanda got that correct, while Kevin went on a run in the early part of the round, including the last Daily Double. Meanwhile, Paul played well to pull close by the end of Double Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Kevin 20 correct 1 incorrect
Paul 18 correct 3 incorrect
Amanda 11 correct 6 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Kevin $14,400
Paul $10,200
Amanda $2,400
Kevin and Amanda got Final Jeopardy! correct today, rendering the earlier Daily Double issue effectively moot. Kevin’s now a 3-day champion, going for win #4 tomorrow!
Tonight’s results:
Amanda $2,400 + $15 = $2,415 (What is Pertussis? Whooping cough?)
Paul $10,200 – $4,202 = $5,998 (What is Tuberculosis)
Kevin $14,400 + $4,000 = $18,400 (What is pertussis?) (3-day total: $42,798)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE $600 (clue #9)
Paul 2000 -2000 (Kevin 200 Amanda -2200)
2) MYTHOLOGY $800 (clue #2)
Amanda -800 +2000 (Kevin 3600 Paul 4200*)
3) WORLD CITIES $1200 (clue #13, $21600 left on board)
Kevin 8800 -2000 (Paul 5000 Amanda 800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -23
*Paul was later credited with $800 extra before Daily Double #3.
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Kevin 1 2 3
Paul 4 5 4 5 3*
Amanda 4
DJ! Round:
Kevin 3 2 1 1 2 3*
Paul
Amanda 1 2* 3† 4† 5† 5 4
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Kevin 2.00
Paul 4.20
Amanda 3.50
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.16 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Kevin $16,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 1 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Paul $12,200 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Amanda $1,200 Coryat, 11 correct, 6 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $29,800
Lach Trash: $14,000 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,200
Player Statistics:
Kevin Belle, career statistics:
59 correct, 5 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
32.16% in first on buzzer (55/171)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $800)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,667
Paul Guelpa, career statistics:
18 correct, 4 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,200
Amanda Hendrickson, career statistics:
12 correct, 6 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $1,200
Kevin Belle, to win:
4 games: 46.411%
5: 21.540%
6: 9.997%
7: 4.640%
8: 2.153%
Avg. streak: 3.866 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Regarding the first two clues of Double Jeopardy, there’s a lot to unpack here. Firstly: the situation with Paul not receiving the Daily Double did not adversely affect his ultimate outcome, as Paul did not get Final Jeopardy! correct. There is no situation where Paul would have won this game had he received that Daily Double (holding everything else constant). Thus, I would not invite Paul back to regular play if I were in Michael Davies’s position. (Another matter is whether the show sees fit to invite him to Second Chance.)
- In my opinion, would this situation have happened under Ken Jennings? No. However, this does not mean that I blame Mayim Bialik, either. I blame the writers & researchers. There should never be a situation where the host needs to be the last line of defense against this sort of thing. The writers should have placed both Eros & Cupid on the card and instructed Mayim in advance to accept either. The fact that this happened falls squarely on the writers, and anyone blaming Mayim for this is out of line, in my opinion.
- That being said, the optics of this situation does not make the show look good, even though the game’s ultimate outcome was not affected. There is no way that the show is going to be shielded from criticism tonight, and people are going to unfairly blame Mayim Bialik for what happened.
- Another option—which I submit that the show should have opted for instead—would have been for the show to stop tape as soon as Amanda called for MYTHOLOGY $800, adjudicated the issue then and there, re-hid the Daily Double if required, and continued on with the game.
- If you wish to comment regarding the situation on the first two clues of Double Jeopardy, your comment must be substantive and provide something not already provided in either this section or another comment.
- Today’s box score: May 2, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Kevin $14,400 Paul $10,200 Amanda $2,400)
Kevin: Standard cover bet over Paul is $6,001. (Actual bet: $4,000)
Paul: Normally, I’d suggest limiting your bet to $1,799. However, Kevin didn’t cover yesterday, so you should go all in. (Actual bet: $4,202)
Amanda: Bet whatever you like; you don’t have much chance. However, I might be conservative here, as Paul has occasion to go all in. (Actual bet: $15)
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It seemed clear Amanda had the knowledge to win this game, or at the very least strongly challenge Kevin. It’s hard to recover from that many high value misses though.
I wasn’t a big fan of the Jepair category. It’s kind of contrived to begin with, but I’d be fine with that. What I didn’t like was that it mixed real airline terms such as “first class” with answers such as “rudimentary” which have nothing to do with airlines. Confusing.
“Jeopair!”, actually.
A made-up airline should be able to have made-up class levels and I got that one correct (and the $200 and $1,000, but not $400 nor $800). I also assumed that “boarding group 11” was a riff on turning amps up to 11, but flipped as a lowest instead of highest, but I never fly, so it probably actually meant nothing (or at least something else other than what came to my mind).
It reminded me of the gimmicky Jeopcoin category for awhile back. Such categories are essentially Potpourri, but with the downside of confusing the audience.
I followed the link Andy provided for “Ghibellina” and “Guelpa” — interesting! If I’d seen or heard reference to those two names other than the way Andy mentioned them, I’d have guessed they were D&D names. [But Guelpa did make me think of Guelph (near Toronto).]
Just saw this post…My mother once told me that she and my father stayed in Guelph, ON on vacation and were treated quite well. The name does derive from the Italian faction as Andy noted.
I think they should bring Paul back. I listen to radio broadcasting of old episodes and while I can’t cite the episode/s I have heard Alex say “we are bringing————back because of an error on our part”
“Error” does not automatically mean “return”. It is generally “error that affects the outcome”.
I got pertussis about 10 years ago, caught from a kid from a family that didn’t vaccinate. It was miserable and lingered for months I had no idea that adults could get a booster. It wasn’t needed until recently because pertussis had pretty much been wiped out. Then came the whole Andrew Wakefield vaccines cause autism research which was disproven but caused many families to stop vaxxing.
I genuinely do not understand how a human being can jump to those conclusions. I looked over his supposed “research” on his Wikipedia page, and I just struggle to understand how so many people actually believe that.
I myself have autism, and I’m pretty darn sure that it didn’t come from a vaccine. His “claims” are complete and utter [insert various profanities here].
I agree with you in principle that the host should not be the last line of defense for this type of thing. I know Alex said many times that he didn’t know all of the answers. He rehearsed rigorously and went through every question at the beginning of every day. I also know that Ken doesn’t know all of the answers (and we have his record to estimate what percentage of things he doesn’t know). But with Alex and Ken, there is at least the illusion that they know everything, and it makes them more fun to watch, in my opinion, which you are under no obligation to share.