Note: This page contains spoilers for the August 17, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please also note that today’s game is an encore presentation of the game that originally aired on November 3, 2022.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Novel Locales) for Thursday, August 17, 2023 (Season 39, Game 39):
This place from a 1933 novel lies in the Valley of Blue Moon, below a peak called Karakal
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
John Focht, a software team lead originally from El Paso, Texas
|
rowan ward, a chart caller, writer & editor from Chicago, Illinois
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Courtney Shah, a community college instructor from Portland, Oregon
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Through three quarterfinals thus far in the 30th Tournament of Champions, the contestant occupying the leftmost lectern is 0-3. Unfortunately, my prediction model thinks it’s more likely than not that this becomes 0-4. rowan—who prefers having their name rendered in lowercase—laid waste to their Second Chance competition this week and is coming into this match as a slight favorite over John Focht, who showed the ability to put up solid performances in his initial run. Don’t count Courtney entirely out, though—she can pull out victories under every circumstance!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Shangri-La?
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.)
Shangri-La is the famous fictional utopia in the Tibetan highlands, from James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon. In the book, Shangri-La and the peaceful valley of Blue Moon is free of war in crime, and its inhabitants live for hundreds of years and age very slowly. Interestingly, Lost Horizon only became popular after the immense popularity of a later work of Hilton’s, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
The name has since become synonymous with any remote paradise; it was also the original name of Camp David; Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inspired by Lost Horizon when naming the presidential retreat in 1942.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, August 17, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: A Year Ending In 2; Real-Deal Rhyme Time; Newspapers & Magazines; Objects Of Verse; Adverbs; Film Fight Marquee)
Things started off a little slowly, but this game was a close three-way fight after both 15 and 30 clues, with all three players within $1,200 after the opening round and it still being anyone’s game.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
John 3 correct 1 incorrect
rowan 3 correct 2 incorrect
Courtney 4 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
John has turned his team of data analysts to analyzing J! box score data. (j-ometry.com).
rowan thought Second Chance was some of the most fun they had ever had.
Courtney had her phone light up daily during her run.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
rowan 10 correct 2 incorrect
John 6 correct 1 incorrect
Courtney 6 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
rowan $3,600
John $3,000
Courtney $2,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Gotta Know Your Science; Starts With J; Biblical People; Get Down To Business; Name That Balkan Nation; A Musical Journey With Questlove)
10 clues into Double Jeopardy, John had an $1,800 lead over rowan. However, clues 13 and 14 proved to be the turning point in this game; Name That Balkan Nation was certainly in John’s wheelhouse and he proved it by finding the first Daily Double there, and picking up $8,000! He then found the second Daily Double immediately and added another 3. 15 clues into Double Jeopardy, John’s lead was $17,600—and he never looked back.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
John 23 correct 1 incorrect
rowan 17 correct 2 incorrect
Courtney 9 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
John $32,000
rowan $10,800
Courtney $5,200
Final Jeopardy! today was a Triple Stumper; it was academic, though—John bet $0 and moves on to the semifinals!
Tonight’s results:
Courtney $5,200 – $4,200 = $1,000 (What is the Big Valley?)
rowan $10,800 – $399 = $10,401 (What is Brigadoon???)
John $32,000 – $0 = $32,000 (What is Xanadu?) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES $800 (clue #6)
rowan 800 +1000 (Courtney -1000 John 0)
2) NAME THAT BALKAN NATION $2000 (clue #13)
John 13000 +8000 (Courtney 3200 rowan 8400)
3) GET DOWN TO BUSINESS $1200 (clue #14, $15200 left on board)
John 21000 +3000 (Courtney 3200 rowan 8400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 176
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Courtney 5 4 4
rowan 5 5 4*
John
DJ! Round:
Courtney 4 3
rowan 3 4 2
John 3 5 4 5 4 3 4 5* 3*
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
John 4.00
rowan 3.83
Courtney 4.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 8 (0.21 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
John $24,200 Coryat, 23 correct, 1 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
rowan $10,600 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Courtney $5,200 Coryat, 9 correct, 1 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $40,000
Lach Trash: $11,000 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,000
Player Statistics:
Courtney Shah, career statistics:
148 correct, 18 incorrect
9/15 on rebound attempts (on 33 rebound opportunities)
26.86% in first on buzzer (137/510)
2/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,200)
6/9 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,933
rowan ward, career statistics:
135 correct, 18 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
46.32% in first on buzzer (132/285)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $17,800)
2/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,600
John Focht, career statistics:
140 correct, 13 incorrect
6/8 on rebound attempts (on 16 rebound opportunities)
37.72% in first on buzzer (129/342)
9/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $31,300)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,133
Andy’s Thoughts:
- This performance from John isn’t completely surprising—his first match in his regular run was just as dominant.
- Today’s box score: August 17, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: John $32,000 rowan $10,800 Courtney $5,200)
Courtney: Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $4,200)
rowan: Since the prize for second and third are the same, you might as well try to go all-in and hope for a miracle (namely, an unlikely Clavin.) (Actual bet: $399)
John: There’s nothing to be gained by making a bet here. Bet $0. (Actual bet: $0)
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Lost Horizon seems to have been forgotten. It’s a beautifully written short novel. Frank Capra did a film version in 1937 which has since been restored.
In my eyes, this match was effectively Chris Miller vs. David Seminer again, but almost two decades later. What I’m most curious about is if John was able to watch the SCC, notice the complete devastation that rowan put on, and realized what he had to do if he wanted to have any hope of keeping up. I will say, it definitely surprised me that John was able to do this so effortlessly; I knew he was a solid player during his original run, but I definitely didn’t expect this!
I did have thoughts about what would happen to the Masters lineup if Final Jeopardy in John’s semifinal worked out better for him, but I already posted those in the August 10 recap, so I won’t touch on them again.
For my ending thoughts, I actually had a question about the seeding of the semifinals. John took out rowan in this game, while Sam Buttrey took out Jessica Stephens in the game airing next Monday; both John and Sam were placed in Matt Amodio’s semifinal. For the sake of argument, let’s say both rowan and Jessica managed to come away with a win (which I had down in my bracket; I think I went 1-for-6 in the quarterfinals!), with both coming from the Second Chance Competition. Given how the two of them (as well as Sam) came from tournaments, and with John being a 4-day champion – and thus, seeded around them – would wins for both of them kept the semifinal seeding the same and resulted in a double rematch with Matt?