Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 31, 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 American Musicians) for Wednesday, January 31, 2024 (Season 40, Game 103):
Also an author, this singer who had 5 top 40 hits in the 1970s was called the “Pirate Laureate”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Ron Cheung, an economics professor from Lakewood, Ohio
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Erin Portman, a high school English teacher from Naperville, Illinois
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Michael Menkhus, a data analyst from Kansas City, Missouri
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
The first two games of these semifinals have seen all six players have at least $10,000 going into Final Jeopardy. Honestly, it would not surprise me if we went 9-for-9. Michael, Erin, and Ron are all very strong players, and I am expecting another competitive game today that comes down to Final Jeopardy. (And, after Monday and Tuesday, I think we are all best to throw our prediction papers out the window.)
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: Who is Jimmy Buffett?
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.)
Famed singer Jimmy Buffett began hitting it big as a musical artist after moving to Key West, Florida in the 1970s; instead of the area’s “Poet Laureate”, Buffett became known as the “Pirate Laureate”, a nickname that appeared in many obituaries of him when he passed away in September 2023.
Buffett’s five Top 40 hits in the 1970s were 1974’s “Come Monday” (#30), 1977’s “Margaritaville” (#8), 1977’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” (#37), 1978’s “Cheeseburger in Paradise” (#32), and 1979’s “Fins” (#35). He also had three New York Times bestsellers: Tales from Margaritaville, Where Is Joe Merchant?, and A Pirate Looks at Fifty.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, January 31, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The English Past; Platforming; Silent H; A Square Meal; The State’S Most Populous County; Questionable Movies)
Ron got off to a hot start, picking up 4 of the first 6 clues; unfortunately, an incorrect True Daily Double put his score’s advancement on furlough. Interestingly, we had a player shut out in the opening segment for the second successive day (today was Erin.) After the break, Michael picked up another seven correct to extend his lead.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Michael 6 correct 0 incorrect
Ron 7 correct 2 incorrect
Erin 0 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Ron is happy to return because his wife is able to attend this time.
Erin is wearing her famous question mark/exclamation point earrings.
Michael is wearing a pin in honor of his corgi Wallace.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Michael 13 correct 0 incorrect
Ron 12 correct 3 incorrect
Erin 2 correct 0 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Michael $7,400
Ron $2,800
Erin $600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The English Past Tense; Opera; Business & Finance History; Tech Talk; Mountains Of Literature; Artful Rogers)
The Daily Doubles were not kind to our players in Double Jeopardy today—both Michael and Ron were incorrect. However, Michael did enough to have a runaway going into Final Jeopardy!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Michael 26 correct 3 incorrect
Ron 20 correct 4 incorrect
Erin 7 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Michael $17,800
Ron $8,200
Erin $2,600
Michael and Erin got Final Jeopardy correct, and Michael is your third finalist!
Tonight’s results:
Erin $2,600 + $2,600 = $5,200 (Who is Buffett?)
Ron $8,200 – $0 = $8,200 (Who is Bob Dylan? Hi Colin & Naomi! <3)
Michael $17,800 + $0 = $17,800 (Who is Jimi Jimmy Buffet?) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) SILENT H $800 (clue #7)
Ron 3200 -3200 (Michael 1600 Erin 0)
2) OPERA $1600 (clue #6)
Michael 10600 -2000 (Erin 1800 Ron 6400)
3) TECH TALK $2000 (clue #19, $8000 left on board)
Ron 9600 -3000 (Michael 12600 Erin 1400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -150
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Michael 4 5 3
Erin
Ron 4 5 3 4*
DJ! Round:
Michael 3 4* 5† 4 3 4 5 3
Erin 5 5 5 2 1 2†
Ron 4 3 3 4 5*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Michael 3.91
Ron 3.89
Erin 3.33
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:
Michael $19,800 Coryat, 26 correct, 3 incorrect, 49.12% in first on buzzer (28/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Ron $14,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Erin $2,600 Coryat, 7 correct, 1 incorrect, 12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,800
Lach Trash: $7,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,000
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Michael Menkhus, career statistics:
127 correct, 24 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
47.37% in first on buzzer (135/285)
3/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,400)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,160
Erin Portman, career statistics:
72 correct, 8 incorrect
6/9 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
27.63% in first on buzzer (63/228)
3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,200)
4/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,950
Ron Cheung, career statistics:
66 correct, 18 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
31.14% in first on buzzer (71/228)
4/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,800)
0/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,600
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I’m going to have more to say on the “homage” controversy—that will inevitably be discussed tonight—in my editorial column on Saturday. However, there is precedent for this decision: Dave Mattingly was given credit for a mispronounced “Erdogan” on July 20, 2018, despite that clue specifically saying there’s a silent letter.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Michael $17,800 Ron $8,200 Erin $2,600)
Michael: Limit your bet to $1,399 and enjoy your victory! (Actual bet: $0)
Erin: Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $2,600)
Ron: Limit your bet to $2,999 or less and take second place. (Actual bet: $0)
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Aw man. Huge music fan here and so embarrassed I didn’t even think of him. Never was a Parrothead, hope that is what his fans are called! 🤣
Yes, “Parrotheads” are what avid Jimmy Buffet fans are called, and, I’m not one either. Never heard of Jimmy Buffet being called that, didn’t read the stories about him, when he died, so I missed that reference in them.
I enjoyed listening to buffet and his songs. @andy do you have a favorite Jimmy buffet song? I would love to find a CD containing jimmy buffet collections later on.
Unfortunately, as someone who spent many years in his mid-20s hosting karaoke, I fear that my appreciation of Mr. Buffett has been soured by hearing one too many drunk and off-key renditions of “Margaritaville”.
Maybe if you listened to a Greatest Hits album a couple of times (maybe skipping “Margaritaville”) it could flush out the old memories and replace them with a better appreciation.
If you can get past “Margaritaville” and the whole party vibe, he’s as good a songwriter as anyone, particularly “Death of an Unpopular Poet” and “He Went to Paris,” IMO. He said that “Come Monday” was his attempt to write a Gordon Lightfoot song.
Until I saw the word “Pirate”, I thought it was Bob Dylan. It turned out everything but that word led to Dylan as the correct response. He also is an author and also had 5 Top 40 hits in the 1970s. What a coincidence!
I specifically didn’t guess Bob Dylan since he was a recent FJ answer – but I also did not guess Buffet. I don’t remember seeing in his obit being called a Pirate Laureate, though it does make sense.
Jimmy Buffett’s fairly recent death made this a pretty easy one for a lot of us who were in their 20’s during the 1970’s. Pretty sure most of that cohort would have gotten this one anyway even if it weren’t for his recent death.
True for me. Jimmy Buffet performed at our “kinda” small college in 1973, just in the biggest room of the student center, not even an auditorium. My boyfriend (now husband) went and very much enjoyed it, but I skipped to study for a math test 😥.
Lisa,
I graduated in 1970 from a smallish college. We didn’t have Jimmy Buffett in the 60’s but we did get “Mitch Rider and The Detroit Wheels” I would have much preferred Jimmy Buffett. In any case, you and I are of the same cohort so I knew this would be true for you, too. 😉
Make that “Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels,” not Rider.
Except for Ricky Nelson and The Monkees (both due to TV shows) and the Beatles (due to high school classmates, not Ed Sullivan), I had no exposure to popular music until college [from dorm life, then the boyfriend]! My main music exposure had been to country music which I didn’t hate, but have never particularly liked.
Congratulations to Jeff who correctly predicted that Michael would win today’s game. (Jeff made his prediction today but it was at 1:29 a.m. so it counts.) Good going, Jeff.
Thank you Robert! I’m in the Pacific Time Zone, so that 1:29 a.m. is really 10:29 p.m. here in the Los Angeles area. 🙂
Although it didn’t precisely fit the category, the one thing Ron’s pronunciation of “homage” had going for it was being a correct pronunciation of the word, unlike Ken’s which was as wrong as his pronunciation of “Newfoundland.”
Merriam-Webster has it correctly:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homage
Although it’s little strange to accept an answer that doesn’t fit the category, it seems worse to me to reject a dictionary-correct pronunciation of a word. I think the call was correct.
Nicely judged game overall, including correcting the calls in Ron’s favor.
Today is yet another time when there is no benefit in betting a non-zero amount for any of the three players, but still, one of them makes it so the eagerly awaited triple-zero is still elusive.
I’m very glad that it didn’t impact the outcome of the game, but “Buffet” and “Buffett” are not pronounced the same (to the point where it’s a throwaway line during the intro to JB’s rendition of “Slow Boat to China”) and thus Michael’s answer of Buffet should have been ruled incorrect. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.
The “t” is pronounced in “buffet” in the sense of a strike or blow, so it was correctly accepted. Even if that weren’t the case, it seems that responses that can be pronounced phonetically in the same way as the correct answer are almost always accepted.
Your “opinion” is not matched by fact.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffet
The first two definitions at the link above are pronounced like Mr. Buffett’s last name.
And then there is the fact that family names can have whatever spelling and pronunciation their members desire. Fictional example: Hyacinth Bucket in the old British sitcom ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ who always insisted their last name was pronounced the same as bouquet (although double letters that MAY OR MAY NOT seem like they should change the pronunciation is more common and easier to not make a big deal about).
I didn’t come up with Jimmy Buffett, but I did come up with the same answer as Ron with Bob Dylan. Didn’t think I’d actually be right.
Tomorrow starting the 2 day Finals will be fun! 🙂
I’m a huge music fan and grew up in Florida, where Buffett’s music was inescapable. Luckily, I enjoy it. However, I have to say that I never once recall hearing him referred to as the “Pirate Laureate”