Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 8, 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 Explorers) for Wednesday, November 8, 2023 (Season 40, Game 43):
Perhaps inspiring a line 2 centuries later, in 1774, he wrote that he was headed “farther than any other man has been before me”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Aaron Craig, an attorney originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Yesterday’s total: $10,000)
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Jilana Cotter, a senior data analyst from Dade City, Florida (Yesterday’s total: $3,000)
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Emily Sands, a project manager from Chanhassen, Minnesota (Yesterday’s total: $30,400)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
In yesterday’s game, Emily Sands jumped out to a significant advantage over Aaron Craig and Jilana Cotter, with Emily’s score north of $30,000. With today’s scores added to yesterday’s, and today’s pre-Final scores able to be doubled in Final Jeopardy, Emily’s “effective lead” is $10,200 over Aaron and $13,700 over Jilana. This is a commanding position, and Jilana and Aaron will likely need to keep Emily from finding a Daily Double in order to have any hope of victory today. However, with how players play Jeopardy in 2023, this match is absolutely not over.
One interesting note is that today’s game was the final game taped before the end of the WGA strike; this is the last game that required crossing a picket line in order to tape. I expect to see significantly fewer reused clues going forward.
I should also note that due to the CMA Awards airing on ABC this evening, Celebrity Jeopardy is taking the week off. Quarterfinal #7—between WWE superstar Becky Lynch, Rachel Dratch (who played the Debbie Downer character from the famed Saturday Night Live sketches), and Macaulay Culkin—will take place next Wednesday (November 15).
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Captain James Cook?
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 his diary in January 1774, during his second voyage, famed explorer Captain James Cook wrote “Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go”. This was written when Cook reached 71º10’S, the farthest south anyone had ever traveled to that point in recorded human history. Cook was searching for the Antarctic continent but his searches for the mainland were blocked by sea ice.
It has been said that Cook’s words inspired the famous “to boldly go where no man has gone before” from the introductory narration of the television series Star Trek.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, November 8, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Fan Mail To Historic Figures; The “A” Team; I Pity Da Food!; On The Old Map; Metallica; L____O)
Our first segment today saw 15 correct responses and a combined $11,400 earned by our players! Immediately after the break, Jilana successfully converted a True Daily Double to find herself leading this game, but Emily still had a commanding overall advantage!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Aaron 5 correct 0 incorrect
Emily 4 correct 0 incorrect
Jilana 6 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Aaron would like to thank his family and his colleagues who’ve picked up a lot of work slack.
Jilana would like to thank her husband John, her parents, and her brother.
Emily would like to shout out her history & English teachers, and her grandmothers.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jilana 9 correct 0 incorrect
Emily 11 correct 0 incorrect
Aaron 9 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jilana $7,200
Emily $6,200
Aaron $4,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: A “C” In Anatomy; “The” Movie; Encyclopedia Brown; Dear Abbey; At A Loss For Worlds; More Than One Meaning)
Both challengers found the Daily Doubles early in this one—Jilana pulled herself back into contention by adding $10,000 to her score! Unfortunately, Aaron’s True Daily Double went wrong for him and he finished Double Jeopardy in the red. Emily didn’t need a Daily Double to make sure she still had a lead going into Final, and a judges’ reversal made things slightly closer going into that last clue!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Jilana 17 correct 0 incorrect
Emily 22 correct 1 incorrect
Aaron 14 correct 7 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Jilana $24,000
Emily $16,200
Aaron -$2,800
Both Emily and Jilana missed Final—Emily is going to the Tournament of Champions!
Tonight’s results:
Aaron -$2,800 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy); $0 + $10,000 = $10,000 ($50,000)
Emily $16,200 – $4,401 = $11,799 + $30,400 = $42,199 (Who is Magellan?) ($100,000)
Jilana $24,000 – $24,000 = $0 + $3,000 = $3,000 (Who is Lewis?) ($25,000)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) FAN MAIL TO HISTORIC FIGURES $800 (clue #16)
Jilana 3200 +3200 (Emily 3600 Aaron 4600)
2) DEAR ABBEY $1200 (clue #6)
Jilana 10800 +10000 (Emily 9400 Aaron 6800)
3) AT A LOSS FOR WORLDS $1600 (clue #9, $21600 left on board)
Aaron 5600 -5600 (Emily 9400 Jilana 20800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 93
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Emily 4 4 4 4
Jilana 1 2 3 4 5 5 4*
Aaron 5 5 3 5 3
DJ! Round:
Emily 4 4
Jilana 5 3* 2†
Aaron 5 4 5 4*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Emily 4.00
Aaron 4.33
Jilana 3.40
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 $16,200 Coryat, 22 correct, 1 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Aaron $2,800 Coryat, 14 correct, 7 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
Jilana $12,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 0 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $31,800
Lach Trash: $9,400 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $12,800
Player Statistics:
Emily Sands, career statistics:
182 correct, 27 incorrect
8/13 on rebound attempts (on 31 rebound opportunities)
38.27% in first on buzzer (173/452)
12/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $38,400)
6/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,275
Jilana Cotter, career statistics:
159 correct, 20 incorrect
14/16 on rebound attempts (on 39 rebound opportunities)
31.80% in first on buzzer (145/456)
9/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,300)
5/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,025
Aaron Craig, career statistics:
139 correct, 20 incorrect
8/8 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
34.84% in first on buzzer (139/399)
2/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$11,600)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,943
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Viewers are reminded that, to go from a correct response to an incorrect one (and vice versa), twice the value of the clue is deducted (or awarded). That is because you are going from +2000 to -2000 (and not from +2000 to 0).
- Yes, I did listen carefully; I agree with the judges’ ruling to deduct from Emily.
- Today’s box score: November 8, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Jilana $24,000 ($3,000) Emily $16,200 ($30,400) Aaron -$2,800 ($10,000))
Aaron’s current combined score: $10,000
Aaron’s maximum possible score: $10,000
Jilana’s current combined score: $27,000
Jilana’s maximum possible score: $51,000
Emily’s current combined score: $46,600
Emily’s maximum possible score: $62,800
Emily: Cover bet over Jilana is $4,401. (Actual bet: $4,401)
Jilana: If Emily covers you and is incorrect, she falls to a total of $42,199. If you bet between $15,200 and $16,999, you will both surpass Emily if she’s incorrect and stay ahead of Aaron’s Day 1 total (for an extra $25,000) if you’re incorrect. (Actual bet: $24,000)
Aaron: (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy.)
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A world explorer in 1774=“Who is Captain Cook?”
I’m not good with years. I guessed Magellan. Only off by a couple centuries.
With the date, I knew it could not be Captain Kirk.
Yeah, I think he’ll be born in 2233. We have a while to go.
I was confused. The term “line” led me to things like the ” Line of Demarcation ” but that was leading me nowhere
You must not be a Trekkie or else there was no mistaking what they meant by that quote inspiring a “line” around 1974.
Got it by thinking of the time frame and an explorer from then known for his chronicles. The quote did not ring any bell for me 😥
I’m a “Trekker” (to me a “Trekkie is someone who is so absorbed in to Star Trek to the near exclusion of everything else,) and, I thought the quote was where Neil Armstrong’s words came from. Though when Ken mentioned Captain Kirk, I could see that the opening to Star Trek TOS, and, TNG, could be considered to have been dervived from Captain Cook’s words.
As for coming up with Captain Cook as the correct response, I couldn’t even thing of any explorers from 1774.
Andy MAY comment on this tomorrow, but the Los Angeles Times reports that SAG AFTRA and the AMPTP have come to an agreement, ending the strike, subject to ratification by the SAG AFTRA membership, and, by the appropiate body at AMPTP.
I’m interested to see if he does comment. On the one hand, this has no direct impact on Jeopardy! production. On the other, it could be precedent setting for negotiations on the next SAG-AFTRA “Network Code” contract, as the current one expires in June 2024. Hopefully the
two sides haveAMPTP has learned important lessons here which will lead to a less contentious process for coming to that deal.There have been lots of references to either interpretation for Trekkie vs Trekker. To me it had always seemed to be the opposite to what you think, so my interest or involvement is probably on about the same level as yours, we just define the designations differently. However, I can see your point since the term probably had its origin from “groupie” and a groupie follows a band from show to show, whereas a fan that just loves every one of that band’s songs (even the ones that some are critical of) and attends every performance they can manage to, is not a “groupie”, just a HUGE fan. But you’ve got to give it to me that whichever kind I am, I am the kind that immediately recognized the Star Trek “line” the clue was referring to ✨.
I will gladly give you credit for seeing that whoever came up with the opening narration for Star Trek TOS (and, TNG,) must have been inspired by Captain Cook.
The 1774 date led me to Captain Cook though I still think the antarctic region was very cold for him to explore. Congrats to Emily Sands on making it to the tournament of Champions
I got it with like 5 seconds left, thinking about who could have inspired Star Trek from that timeframe. I realized it had to be Cook with enough time to write four letters down, whew! Surprised neither got it and surprised that Jilana didn’t make the cover cover bet, which cost her $25k.
I’m not sure I ever paid much attention to the dates for various historical explorations (for any longer that it took to know them for a test) so even though I remember quite a bit about Cook, I’m certain I had never heard of any of his writings and sure didn’t remember a date period.
However, like Jilana (apparently) 1774 made me think about colonial America right before the revolution, so I was unsuccessfully trying to think of someone who explored western North America, but I knew better than to say Lewis or Clark as they were of exploring/writing age later than that [as it turns out in 1774 they were a newborn and a 4-yr-old 😀].
Chat, press F for Aaron — he becomes only the seventh player in show history to not play Final Jeopardy! in a game of a multiple-day, total-point match, and just the third on the final day (all three instances happening in the last four years).
Great explanation on the wagering suggestions here, as it shows why, in contrast to the usual situation, all-in was not the correct bet by Jilana. (Had Emily’s score not been lowered by $4000, then betting everything would have been fine, as Jilana would’ve needed to wager such that in order to have a chance at winning, she’d fall below Aaron if incorrect.)
Great match, a fitting end to an excellent bracket. I was really impressed by Jilana continuing to fight back, especially on DD2 today, realizing that she even close on the scores she could see, she was still down big with day 1 taken into account. And congratulations to Emily; she is not going to be an easy out in the ToC, even for the likes of Cris, Ray, Ben, Hannah, and Stephen.
Great game. I was super impressed with Jilana in prohibiting this from being a runaway. @ Bill Vollmer and I were both thinking this inspired Neil Armstrong. But honestly, that didn’t matter as I wasn’t sure about explorers from 1774.
Good luck in the ToC Emily.
I don’t see the Neil Armstrong reference at all. Cook’s quote was about aim/intention/plan and Armstrong’s was about what was already accomplished, even if only moments before. Also, Cook had a whole crew yet only only spoke of himself but Armstrong called it [an accomplishment] for all mankind.
So even though Aaron had today and couldn’t participate in FJ, it’s really like he had $0 and stayed at his total of $10k from the 1st day and not $7200 when you add his 2 days together.
That’s an interesting aspect of the 2 day final.