Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 3, 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 Business & Social Media) for Wednesday, May 3, 2023 (Season 39, Game 168):
On Twitter in 2023, this food franchise followed an exact total of 11 accounts that included Victoria Beckham, Mel B & Herb Alpert
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Hannah Wilson, a data scientist from Chicago, Illinois |
Dan Czekalski, a project manager from Columbia, South Carolina |
Kevin Belle, a trail planner from Silver Spring, Maryland (3-day total: $42,798) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Kevin Belle is now a 3-day champion; a fourth win today will see him make his way to the bottom of the Tournament of Champions standings. However, Dan Czekalski & Hannah Wilson absolutely want to stop him from getting to that point.
That said, I’d like to revisit something from last night’s game. While most of you know me as the writer of this website, this isn’t my only project. I have multiple production credits from various game shows myself, and I will put on my “game show producer” hat when revisiting yesterday’s episode. It’s become clear to me—and I’m honestly surprised that this hasn’t caught up to the show by this point, with the show having gone through months of different hosts after Alex Trebek’s death—that having Alex Trebek’s 35+ years of experience caused the show’s writers and researchers to let bad trivia-writing habits creep into their writing.
Last night, the writers not being prepared for the distinct possibility of a contestant saying “Eros” instead of “Cupid” essentially caused the wrong player to play a Daily Double in yesterday’s game—which inherently has a major effect on the potential outcomes of a game. When preparing material for the show, a good fact-checker doesn’t just check a writer’s source for correctness; a good fact-checker also asks, “Are there any sources that disagree with this source” or even “What if someone says X”? It seems clear to me that this hasn’t been happening—otherwise, Paul would have been given credit for his response at the time, and the game would have proceeded normally and properly.
It appears that the writers & researchers have been finalizing incomplete material. If your material is incomplete to the point where your moderator needs to know the similarities between Eros and Cupid to save your bacon, then that is a critical writing flaw that needs to be rectified. Speaking as someone who has been working in various roles on Reach for the Top (a production that relies on moderators who very likely don’t have perfect knowledge of everything asked about) for over a decade now, it is crucial that the writers provide as much information as possible to their moderators. That clearly broke down with last night’s game, and I hope the show’s writers and researchers can provide enough information so that both Ken & Mayim can do their best work.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is KFC?
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.)
The subject of today’s Final Jeopardy! has been a meme for the better part of a decade now; in order to lean into its secret recipe of 11 herbs & spices for its fried chicken, KFC, on Twitter, has followed 11 people: 4 of the Spice Girls and 7 people named Herb. (Hence, “11 Herbs & Spices”.)
We’ve seen a bunch of more difficult Finals as of late—an easier Final like this one may end up being the undoing of a player like Kevin, who hasn’t been making the standard cover bet in Final Jeopardy. An astute challenger will notice this and adjust their own Final Jeopardy strategy accordingly.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: , Said This Literary Character; That’s A Good Spot For A Break; Mix -Ology; Aboard The Aircraft Carrier; The “USS”; John C. Reilly)
Hannah got off to the best start, having $6,800 at the opening break and $10,200 after the Jeopardy! round. Kevin had a good round, and Dan struggled early on.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Hannah 8 correct 0 incorrect
Kevin 5 correct 0 incorrect
Dan 1 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Hannah devised a cat Jumble for her wedding program where the answer was “showtime” and not something referring to cat poop.
Dan was in “The Notebook”.
Kevin has a foosball-related tattoo.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Hannah 14 correct 0 incorrect
Kevin 9 correct 0 incorrect
Dan 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Hannah $10,200
Kevin $4,000
Dan $1,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historic Americans; “D” Tour; There’S Gold In Them Thar Hills; Sax Education; Homophones; Theater Before & After)
Double Jeopardy today belonged to the challengers—Dan and Hannah dominated proceedings, with them both gaining over $3,000 on their Daily Doubles. Unfortunately, Hannah was a little too conservative on the last one, which meant that she didn’t quite have a runaway going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Hannah 24 correct 0 incorrect
Dan 11 correct 2 incorrect
Kevin 15 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Hannah $22,800
Dan $12,300
Kevin $6,000
Dan & Hannah both got Final correct—Hannah is your new Jeopardy! champion! She’ll be back tomorrow to defend her title.
Tonight’s results:
Kevin $6,000 – $5,000 = $1,000 (What is McCormick’s?)
Dan $12,300 + $12,000 = $24,300 (What is KFC?)
Hannah $22,800 + $3,000 = $25,800 (What is KFC?) (1-day total: $25,800)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) , SAID THIS LITERARY CHARACTER $800 (clue #7)
Hannah 2200 +2000 (Kevin 1400 Dan 0)
2) HISTORIC AMERICANS $800 (clue #4)
Dan 4000 +3500 (Kevin 4000 Hannah 10200)
3) “D” TOUR $1600 (clue #7, $28000 left on board)
Hannah 10600 +3000 (Kevin 4400 Dan 7500)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 207
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Kevin 1 2 3 5
Dan
Hannah 4 3 4*
DJ! Round:
Kevin 1
Dan 3 4 5 2* 1†
Hannah 4*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Hannah 3.75
Dan 3.00
Kevin 2.40
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.15 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Hannah $20,200 Coryat, 24 correct, 0 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Dan $9,600 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Kevin $6,000 Coryat, 15 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,800
Lach Trash: $13,800 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,400
Player Statistics:
Kevin Belle, career statistics:
74 correct, 7 incorrect
3/4 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
30.70% in first on buzzer (70/228)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $800)
1/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,500
Dan Czekalski, career statistics:
12 correct, 2 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,500)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,600
Hannah Wilson, career statistics:
25 correct, 0 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $20,200
Hannah Wilson, to win:
2 games: 69.971%
3: 48.959%
4: 34.257%
5: 23.970%
6: 16.772%
Avg. streak: 3.330 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Hannah had some incredibly strong gets today and I hope that today is the first of many victories for her.
- Today’s box score: May 3, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Hannah $22,800 Dan $12,300 Kevin $6,000)
Kevin: Limit your bet to $2,399—that way(Actual bet: $5,000)
Dan: Bet at least $8,701 to give yourself any chance of winning. (Actual bet: $12,000)
Hannah: Standard cover bet over Dan is $1,801. (Actual bet: $3,000)
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Lol! 11 herbs and spices! Doubtful I could have pieced that one together up on stage in 30 seconds.
Thanks for bursting my bubble for actually knowing this “easier one” Andy!! JK JK 😜
I’ve never seen the meme you mentioned so had to use my knowledge of the Spice Girls. But yes, quite facile.
🤦Wow… Good one, writers! You completely spoofed me😅 I was thinking something to do with music or musicians? and guessed Taco Bell😏 That caps off a 4 game win streak that had a reprieve on Monday followed by a lucky guess yesterday.
Current FJ streak: 1L
Just by luck, though, you were very close. KFC and Taco Bell are both owned by Yum! Brands.
Heh, thanks! 🙂 And thanks for the useful looking factoid
The Cupid/Eros gaffe was pretty bad. Is there any way the writers could test out the clues in advance with a sample internet audience, similar to the way Jimmy Fallon tries out his monologue jokes in front of a group of tourists ahead of his show? Of course the participants would have to be sworn to secrecy. I’d volunteer.
Serious enough to justify bringing Paul back? Paul didn’t get FJ! right, but still.
I had always heard the story titled as “Cupid and Psyche”, but given that Psyche was Greek, one would think that “Eros” would have been acceptable.
Al, yes, I’d say “serious enough to justify bringing Paul back,” because it seemed to have thrown him off his game from that point on. Had he been ruled correct on that response, he would have gone on to get the Daily Double and may very well have had more confidence for the remainder of the game. I think he didn’t ring in for a long time after that missed ruling. I’d either bring him back for another regular game or have him return in the Second Chance Tournament. That’s my opinion anyway.
We can’t say definitively that he would’ve gotten the Daily Double if he’d been ruled correct. Note that in the Jeopardy round, Paul was choosing clues only from the third row down until the DD was found. It seems likely that he would’ve chosen a clue other than $800 in Mythology next.
It is true that we don’t know how things would’ve unfolded if the correct call was made from the start, but it’s really tough to make a case that the final outcome was affected, IMO. Unless you think that Paul was thrown off enough by the ruling to cause him to miss the Final that he otherwise would’ve gotten.
I responded correctly to myself in 31 seconds. That makes me late. I love KFC!!!
Hannah looks like Mayim Bialik on the victory photo haha
Having had a Tumblr account for well over 12 years (I may be one of the oldest people on Tumblr, lol), this one was easily recognizable for me.:)
KFC isn’t really my thing so I was thinking of “Spice _” places that had herb dishes on the menu. I didn’t come up with anything. Now I know why!
Not shocked to see Kevin get eaten alive today. He played far too conservatively, starting with $200 clues and making safe bets, and is lucky to have three wins. Those kinds of players always lose to someone like Hannah (and I don’t mind that $3k bet at that early point in the round, as losing too much money can be a confidence killer for a challenger).
Kevin’s “McCormick’s” had some logic to it, but that is not a “food franchise”. I have never been on Twitter (or Facebook or TikTok or Tumblr or Reddit, etc.) so I didn’t have much chance of already having heard about it, but like Michael Johnston I was trying to think of an association with musicians. Though I did recognize that “only 11” was probably important, I was just thinking “very few” instead of specifically “11”. ☹
Andy, do you think maybe the writers were sloppier lately due to pressure to really get out a lot of clues because of the anticipated writers strike? Even not at all related to the industry, I’d been hearing that was possible for a long time and likely for some time.
You may be right that the underlying, long-developing reason is writers having relied on Alex Trebek’s vast knowledge as a back-up, but he struck me as a person who would not have put up with that.
Unfortunately I see the Eros oversight as a sign of the times.
The dumbing down of education and its vilification as indoctrination over the last several-to-many decades has taken a toll on this society. The younger generations (I’m a 1970 model) don’t seem to have the base education or critical thinking skills and/or inclination to look for more than one answer to a question (and this is not me saying “keep off of my lawn” or complaining about their music…).
Hopefully I’m wrong, and I’ve just spent too much time with certain demographics that tend to skew this way.
I’d like to think I’d have gotten Final correct anyway, but as fate would have it, another trivia game I play used a similarly-worded version of this factoid a couple of weeks ago.