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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 11, 2024, 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 Brand Names) for Thursday, January 11, 2024 (Season 40, Game 89):
Originally called Fruit Scones, the name of this food brand introduced in 1964 was influenced by an art movement of that time
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
John Guszkowski, a planning consultant from Pomfret, Connecticut
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Allison Strekal, a nonprofit development director from Missoula, Montana
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Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today’s game, the last Second Chance semifinal of this season, features Long Nguyen, Allison Strekal, and John Guszkowski. Long was having a strong game against ToCer Stephen Webb before running into a Daily Double, Allison was dominating Suresh Krishnan before things went south late in her game, and John put up $22,200 going into Final Jeopardy, but still lost to Troy Meyer.
The prediction crowd on Reddit seemed to always mention Long as someone “they wouldn’t have invited” to Second Chance, and I honestly am at a complete loss to understand what has caused such disrespect here. I think Long is a very worthy invitee; in fact, not inviting someone like Long, who would have won if not for a Daily Double, would actually disincentivize aggressive Daily Double play, as you might see players prioritize “being invited back for Second Chance” late in games instead of taking the big swings for the win on Daily Doubles.
Remember that you’ll be able to listen to the Play-In Round for the next Champions Wildcard event tomorrow evening at 8 PM Eastern on Jeopardy! Radio on TuneIn! Unlike what some news outlets would have you believe, this is not a secret round. These episodes will be aired and are publicly accessible.
Another reminder that I have started a Sunday mailbag column where I answer fan & viewer questions regarding the show. If you have a question, feel free to send it to mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What are Pop-Tarts?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Pop-Tarts, the most famous brand of toaster pastries, was introduced by Kellogg’s in 1964; its name was a spin-off of “pop art”, an art movement in its heyday in the 1960s.
Speaking of spin-offs: One thing I learned today when writing this write-up is that in October 2023, the Kellogg Company spun off into two separate companies. The North American cereal division is now the WK Kellogg Co, whereas the company with its international cereal division, Pop Tarts, Pringles, and other brands now belong to Kellanova; WK Kellogg will still be based in Battle Creek, while Kellanova will be based out of Chicago.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, January 11, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Bible Book Saith…; On The Movie Bill; Notorious; Parts Of The Whole; It’s Up 2 U; Old York, Old York)
John certainly got off to a hot start, picking up 10 of the first 15 clues and having $7,200 at the opening break! He got the Daily Double right out of the break to extend his lead even further!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
John 10 correct 0 incorrect
Allison 3 correct 1 incorrect
Long 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
John had been trying to get on the show for 30 years, and it felt like Moonlight Graham to him.
Allison thinks her loss “happened so fast”.
Long ended up at Golden Corral, with someone else paying, after his loss.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
John 17 correct 1 incorrect
Allison 7 correct 2 incorrect
Long 6 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
John $14,200
Allison $2,600
Long $2,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Constitutional Convention; Former Names Of Capital Cities; Novels; Episodes Of The Sitcom; Clocks; 7-Letter Words)
Long, having picked up control by getting the last clue of the opening round incorrect, did very well to get some momentum going. However, it was Alison who got both Daily Doubles back-to-back and she used them to take the lead! Everyone was over $15,000 going into Final, and Allison held a small $800 lead going into Final Jeopardy!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Allison 14 correct 2 incorrect
John 24 correct 4 incorrect
Long 18 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Allison $19,000
John $18,200
Long $15,000
Long is the only player correct in Final; he moves from third place to victory and advances to the final!
Tonight’s results:
Long $15,000 + $4,001 = $19,001 (What are Pop Tarts?) (Finalist)
John $18,200 – $12,000 = $6,200 (What are Corn Pops)
Allison $19,000 – $18,999 = $1 (What is Fig Newton?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE BIBLE BOOK SAITH… $800 (clue #16)
John 7200 +4000 (Long 1200 Allison 1400)
2) THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION $2000 (clue #9)
Allison 5800 +5800 (Long 5400 John 15000)
3) EPISODES OF THE SITCOM $1200 (clue #10, $19200 left on board)
Allison 11600 +5000 (Long 5400 John 15000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 199
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Long 4 3 4
Allison 5 3 2
John 4 5 4 5 5 3 3 4 3 4*
DJ! Round:
Long 4 5 3 4 5
Allison 5 5* 3*
John 4 4
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Long 4.00
John 4.00
Allison 3.83
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:
Long $15,000 Coryat, 18 correct, 4 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
John $15,000 Coryat, 24 correct, 4 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Allison $11,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,400
Lach Trash: $4,800 (on 4 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,800
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Long Nguyen, career statistics:
37 correct, 6 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (36/114)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$10,800)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,400
Allison Strekal, career statistics:
36 correct, 7 incorrect
7/7 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
27.43% in first on buzzer (31/113)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,800)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,200
John Guszkowski, career statistics:
46 correct, 7 incorrect
3/5 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
38.60% in first on buzzer (44/114)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,400
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I’m not entirely sure why there was a change in the clue as was broadcast compared to what was published in the New York Times as Clue of the Day. My guess is that an extra clue was added last-minute, but the change wasn’t reflected in the show’s clue database (which would be what is likely referred to when compiling the clues to be sent out for Clue of the Day.)
- $14,200 is the second-highest score since 2004 after the Jeopardy! Round to not end up winning the game; the high mark is $14,400, set by Colin Gleeson on March 17, 2015.
- I’m also reasonably certain that Long’s incorrect response on the last clue of the opening round was a calculated gambit to gain control of the board to start Double Jeopardy.
- Today’s box score: January 11, 2024 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Allison $19,000 John $18,200 Long $15,000)
Long: Bet no more than $8,600 and play for the Triple Stumper. (Actual bet: $4,001)
Allison: Standard cover bet over John is $17,401. (Actual bet: $18,999)
John: Standard cover bet over Long is $11,801. (Actual bet: $12,000)
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“Pop-tarts”=“Pop Art”—an easy get for me. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that all three contestants will get it too.
That’s what I expected, too.
I was thinking art deco and trying to find something with ‘deco’ in the name.
I wonder if anyone will go that route and try Necco Wafers?
Becca Wafers were first produced in 1847.
Oops. Necco was autocorrected to Becca.
Hi, Nancy,
Typing New England Confectionery Company (Necco) would have avoided that autocorrect, lol. I was eating Necco Wafers in the 1950’s so I knew it couldn’t be that. My son has been eating a single Pop Tart every day for more than the past 20 yeas and I was around when they first came out in 1964, so this was an easy one for me. I was surprised to see only one person get this one in FJ.
All I came up with was “Mod” but couldn’t relate it to a brand name.
(Owning stock in both Kellogg and Kellanova, I hope that publicity from today’s Final Jeopardy will boost their sagging stock prices.)
I’m a bit skeptical about this one. Was big business in the early 60’s really hip enough to reference an art movement when naming a breakfast product? I always thought they were called Pop Tarts because they “pop” up in your toaster.
The citations are from a published food encyclopedia written by a culinary history professor.
The source is authoritative.
I believe even by the 60s big business knew to hire experts to help them come up with names for their products and Pop Art was already being used for advertising stuff that itself didn’t have a trendy name.
I bet either the experts started with ‘Pop’ because of the toast aspect, making it pretty easy to pick ‘Tart’ as the other word due to ‘Pop Art’ and/or that when presented with ‘Pop Tart’ as an option, Kellogg quickly approved because it was going to pop out of the toaster. Either way, Pop Tarts would have been named for BOTH the art movement and the “popping up” action.
[BTW, I used to have a running (lighthearted) argument with another mom as to whether Pop-Tarts qualify as a “hot breakfast”. My opinion being that this old synonym for “nutritious breakfast” meant bacon and eggs or cooked oatmeal or some such, not something that is much like jelly on toast PLUS ICING (or a slice of pie that is almost all crust), whether it is heated up or not 😁.]
Love your “Hot Breakfast” commentary. 🙂
Just spent a good while on the Pop-Tarts wiki page while writing a question about the original flavors. This was a much needed Slumdog-esque moment for me.
This one might be easier for the sports–Jeopardy fan crossover people given the Pop-Tarts Bowl college football game played on December 28th. They had characters dressed as pop-tarts and one was lowered into a large fake toaster with a toasted version appearing out the side of the toaster being served to the winning team. THere are a lot of youtube videos showing the post-game ceremonies.
Given the general disdain for any sports categories on the show and a couple recent contestants who applauded themselves for getting a sports question right, now sure how much of an overlap there is. 🙂
Didn’t know there is a general distain for sports related categories.
I don’t think it is disdain, like they feel like Jeopardy! is lowering its standards by deigning to even have a sports-related clue (though some individuals [like myself, for instance] do not hold professional sports in high regard). It just seems that most Jeopardy! contestants do not care to devote much of their brain power to sports information, thus dreading that it may come up. When they do happen to get one right, I do not think they are applauding themselves as much as just celebrating the serendipity that they happened to have gleaned that particular knowledge from high-profile “current events” or overheard office conversation or whatever and happily retained it. [Even if not “current” now, it probably was current when they’d heard it, though possibly an older sports-related fact was just mentioned by a character in a book or movie.]
I imagine many contestants have an Achilles’ heel for one subject or another, but sports seems to be the intersection of the Venn diagram of those various vulnerabilities and thus the shared apprehension.
Pop Tarts have been kinda in the forefront of my mind because of that bowl game.
The pop tart bowl was played previously so that was helpful. There are several pop tarts commercials on television years ago which might explain the clue for today.
Its been 60 years since Pop Tarts were introduced—-and I still have not eaten one. Not even 2!!!
Aw c’mon Thomas! Go for it!
I very rarely have one, but here’s a hint if you do decide to “Go for it!” . . . try one that doesn’t have icing. In my opinion blueberry is tastiest [and I don’t even like blueberry pie] and strawberry is second.
I don’t guess that sounds like someone who just about never had one, but I did so a bit more frequently when I was more on the go [as I liked them just as well not heated]. But even then I would sometimes have to throw a couple away because they had gotten stale waiting for me to need them.
isMy mind went to “what is Starbursts?” somehow relating to some painting I don’t even know, ignoring that the correct response called for an art movement. I can see the name Pop Tart could be a play Pop Art, OR, that it was a kind of tart that “pops” from your toaster. Ad men can be clever that way.
Either Long was attempting to answer the last question of the Jeopardy round in earnest, or he made a very convincing show of it, both in his affect and picking a plausible but incorrect response. I personally think he just missed it.
Completely agree with the comments about the decision to call him back. The producers were vindicated on that one.
That is what I thought, too, especially since his response of Twix was the same as mine!
Tonight was one heck of a game. Looked quite likely we were going to see a John runaway and the Double Jeopardy reared its head and changed that. And then FJ reared its head and changed that! Games like these are always fun to watch.
I didn’t get FJ right. I was trying to more go for the company, not the product. That was definitely a mistake on my end. Now I know that Pop-Tarts, which Thomas G. needs to try, are 4 years older than me.
Th3 2 day final starting tomorrow will be fun. I’ll go with Roy Camara for the win, $35k, and Champions Wildcard invite.
Oh, I just noticed that all 3 winners of Group 4 were all placed in lectern 1. Interesting.