Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 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 Ancient Geography) for Thursday, November 2, 2023 (Season 40, Game 39):
Britain became an island less than 10,000 years ago, as warming weather & melting ice filled in this sea
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Yoshie Hill, a program support specialist from Colma, California
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Emily Sands, a project manager from Chanhassen, Minnesota
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Dave Rapp, a writer from Valley Village, California
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Andy’s Pre-Game Thoughts:
Fresh off his win yesterday, Dave Rapp immediately gets placed into the first semifinal—where he has to face Emily Sands. I’m not entirely sure of the logic behind placing both of the top-winning 3-time champions in the same semifinal here, but if the show is looking for an entertaining game, it will probably get that with this matchup. This is one of the problems with “Are you a sport, or are you entertainment?”—a sport wouldn’t pair its top two seeds against each other before the final like this.
In happier news, I was very happy to see a category titled WOOD in today’s opening round—that category is a running joke from the 1980s that I am more than happy to see returning.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is the North Sea?
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.)
As world temperatures get warmer and colder, the levels of what is now the North Sea get higher and lower; higher under warm temperatures when less ice is trapped in glaciers, and lower under cooler temperatures.
The Making of an Island, at the website of the Natural History Museum in the U.K., discusses the effects of changing sea levels on the island of Great Britain.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, November 2, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Mything In Action; Fiction-Ale; All The Presidents’ Children; Growing Pains; Wood; Completes The Proverb)
Emily got out to a strong start, but a missed True Daily Double gave Dave the lead after 15 clues. However, 8 correct after the commercial saw Emily re-take the lead by the time that commercial break #2 came around.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Dave 6 correct 1 incorrect
Emily 6 correct 1 incorrect
Yoshie 1 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Yoshie does not study for Jeopardy.
Emily thought a crossword clue referencing Alex Trebek was a sign during her initial run.
Dave forgot where he parked his car after his initial win.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Emily 14 correct 1 incorrect
Dave 8 correct 1 incorrect
Yoshie 5 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Emily $4,600
Dave $4,200
Yoshie $1,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Fun With The Periodic Table; Kennedy Center Honorees; Cliffs Notes: Drama; Soused; Misnomers; O-E-O-E)
It was Emily who made zero clue selection mistakes in Double Jeopardy, and it was Emily who found both Daily Doubles! She used both of them to very good effect, picking up a combined $10,000 on them and propelling herself into a runaway position!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Emily 26 correct 2 incorrect
Dave 16 correct 1 incorrect
Yoshie 12 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Emily $25,800
Dave $11,800
Yoshie $9,200
Yoshie and Emily were correct, with Dave using the opportunity to make a shoutout. Emily survives a tough draw to become the first finalist!
Tonight’s results:
Yoshie $9,200 + $9,200 = $18,400 (What is the North Sea?)
Dave $11,800 – $0 = $11,800 (What is Thank you, Mom!!)
Emily $25,800 + $0 = $25,800 (What is the North Sea?) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ CHILDREN $800 (clue #9)
Emily 3200 -3200 (Dave 2600 Yoshie 600)
2) FUN WITH THE PERIODIC TABLE $1200 (clue #15)
Emily 11000 +6000 (Dave 7000 Yoshie 4800)
3) CLIFFS NOTES: DRAMA $1200 (clue #23, $5600 left on board)
Emily 18600 +4000 (Dave 11000 Yoshie 9200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -24
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Dave 5 3 5 4
Emily 4 3 3 4*
Yoshie 5
DJ! Round:
Dave 1 2 2 4† 5 4
Emily 4 4 3 3 3 3* 4 3*
Yoshie 1 5 3 5 5 4 5 2 1
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Emily 3.42
Yoshie 3.60
Dave 3.50
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Emily $21,400 Coryat, 26 correct, 2 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Yoshie $9,200 Coryat, 12 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Dave $11,800 Coryat, 16 correct, 1 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $42,400
Lach Trash: $6,800 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,800
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 3
Player Statistics:
Dave Rapp, career statistics:
135 correct, 16 incorrect
9/9 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities)
37.43% in first on buzzer (128/342)
5/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $11,000)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,967
Emily Sands, career statistics:
139 correct, 23 incorrect
5/8 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
39.94% in first on buzzer (135/338)
10/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $28,800)
5/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,067
Yoshie Hill, career statistics:
73 correct, 10 incorrect
7/8 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
23.30% in first on buzzer (65/279)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $400)
4/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,200
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: November 2, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Emily $25,800 Dave $11,800 Yoshie $9,200)
Dave: Standard cover bet over Yoshie for second is $6,601. (Actual bet: $0)
Emily: Limit your bet to $2,199 and enjoy your spot in the finals! (Actual bet: $0)
Yoshie: If Dave bets to cover you for second and is incorrect, he falls to $5,199. I’d bet between $2,601 and $3,999 here for the best shot at second place. (Actual bet: $9,200)
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Got it! It was really a wild guess—I wasn’t sure. I first thought the English Channel, but’s that not a “sea”. A “sea” close to Britain—that’s “What is the North Sea?”
P.S. Hi Judith P.! This is to let you know that I got both your Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s comments. About Tuesday—I loved the Curious George stories. They made an animated TV series and movie about them. Spoiler alert: In the movie, it is revealed that the actual name of “the man in the yellow hat” is “Ted”.
Hi RedRose, I’m happy to hear that you got my 2 previous notes to you from Tuesday & Wednesday. I, too, got today’s Final! correct. I first toyed with the idea “the Irish Sea,” which is between Britain & Ireland. But, then that whole former land mass would still be a giant island. So, I quickly shifted to “the North Sea.” Then, Britain would have clearly been connected around the English Channel to mainland Europe. Cheers!
Yeah, the land connecting Britain and mainland Europe went under the waves after the last glacial period.
Today showed the importance of daily doubles and searching for them correctly. This game could have gone much differently than it did.
The north sea was the place where Piper Alpha had suffered a major catastrophe years ago. Still though its nice to see this again after a long while. The north sea connects to Britain seems to be a good hint here.
Ha! I got it right by default. I could not think of the name of the sea I really thought it might be — Baltic — because I couldn’t get “Bering” out of my head but knew that was the wrong ‘B’ Sea. Honestly, I thought the North Sea was off one coast of Ireland [it’s not], but that was my response regardless.
The name of this Final Jeopardy category made it seem more difficult than it was. The key clue in the answer, a sea by the island of Britan, should lead one to the correct response of “what is the North Sea?”
Despite Dave doing A “shout out” instead of writing a response, I believe all three players got it.
As I write this I haven’t watched the game yet.
This may be nitpicking on my part, but if you seed the players by regular season results (games won, then money won) then of the remaining 9 players Emily Sands and Dave Rapp would be seeded 1 (Emily) and 2 (Dave). If you use the results of the QFinal they would still be 2 (Emily) and 1 (Dave). They should not be in the same semi-final; they should meet only in the final. Even if you seed all 27 players they are still seeds 1 and 2.
On today’s first Daily Double, we had another instance of what I like to call the “Wedgwood problem” — but I’m interested in your opinion on whether it’s even a problem at all.
On my screen, “IKE” was clearly visible on the button John Eisenhower was wearing on his left lapel. I didn’t need that to get the clue, but it would have given it away to me. I recall a picture clue from late last season (July 12) that wanted the New York City borough containing the “DUMBO” neighborhood, in which “Brooklyn” was clearly visible on a banner affixed to a street lamp in the given image.
For those unaware: Wedgwood refers to the name of that brand of fine china being visible in a late game Video Daily Double back in 2015, which was critical in Christine Kim making a spectacular comeback to successfully defend.
Is this even a problem if giveaways like this aren’t discernible by the contestants in the studio, but are noticed by the viewers at home? (I submit that it is still an issue, because the game is as much for the home viewer to play along as it is for those at the lecterns.) Can the show even take mitigating actions, within the terms of its agreements to license the images? What do you think?
Well darn! I wanted Dave to win as he’s from very close to where I live and I like his personality, but congrats to Emily. She’s very tough. I wasn’t expecting a runaway in this one, to be honest. Dave didn’t miss a single question (16 for 16), but his buzzer skills were inferior to Emily’s and she found all the DD’s. Emily should be a clear favorite to join Josh Saak in the ToC. Clearly a random draw of the Final 9 players occurred for these 2 to be matched today. 🙁
And I actually got a FJ right. LOL
Hi Matt Carberry!
In response to your 9:13 pm post on November 2: in the same category, the photo of Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky clearly shows Bill Clinton standing just behind her. Would you consider this another “Wedgwood problem”? Or do you think it didn’t make that much difference, especially since this clue wasn’t a Daily Double?
A fair point, RedRose — but my answer is no. Both the contestant and the viewer at home would still need to recognize Bill Clinton.
And FWIW: the J! Archivist that reviewed my correction suggestion on this claimed they couldn’t make out “IKE” on the button. That Archivist either needs to get their eyes checked, or needs to check themself before they wreck themself (because they’re trying to gaslight the fandom by saying that).
With all due respect, as the Archivist who takes the captures, I see what would be lettering, but there is no way to possibly discern what that lettering may be.
A close up on the button, at the link below. Recall that the question at hand is whether “IKE” is discernible at ANY distance or visibility, not necessarily whether it would have been to Emily. She said she didn’t pick up on it, and I take her at her word.
The “gaslight” charge stands as originally made, and I’m glad to now know to whom to specifically direct it.
https://twitter.com/mfc248/status/1720461399946617285
Oh, good grief. That’s not just a stretch, it’s a stretch and a half. Since I already KNOW it says IKE, I can KIND OF make out the first two letters, but otherwise? Not really. And certainly not enough to suggest something nefarious.