Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 28, 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 1950s Politics) for Wednesday, February 28, 2024 (Season 40, Game 123):
In 1959 Bob Bartlett & Hiram Fong each won a coin flip to gain this alliterative title
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Yogesh Raut, a social and personality psychologist from Vancouver, Washington
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Jake DeArruda, a delivery routing assistant originally from Ludlow, Vermont
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Nick Cascone, an orthopedic physician assistant originally from Queens, New York
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
The topsy-turvy Tournament of Champions continues; today’s tilt features Champions Wildcard advancee Nick Cascone facing off against Jake DeArruda and Yogesh Raut. A number of pundits felt that Yogesh’s run ended quite prematurely, and, as evidenced by his “Perfect Game” award at Jeopardy! Honors for his game with Kyle Dale and Kristina Mosley that saw correct responses on all 61 clues, Yogesh should have zero difficulty with the more difficult Tournament of Champions material.
I should also make it clear that I think that Yogesh was very much on the receiving end of very poor media coverage from various news outlets looking to outrage-farm. Yogesh’s point was that he did not think that Jeopardy! should be considered the be-all-and-end-all of North American trivia culture—and considering how much variance has been seen in the first three games of the Tournament of Champions thus far, I think he still has a very good point on that front. A lot of so-called fans have decided to treat Yogesh very unfairly over this, and I certainly don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the two overall most-criticized male contestants of the last decade are both Asian men (Yogesh Raut and Arthur Chu).
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 is senior senator?
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.)
When a state enters the Union and receives its Senate representation, who gets the nominal title of “Senior Senator” from that state? Well, you flip a coin! In Alaska’s case, Bob Bartlett won the coin flip over Ernest Gruening, while in Hawaii’s case, Hiram Fong won the coin flip over Oren Long.
Honestly, I think this is the sort of clue where if the light bulb goes off in your head in time, using 1959 (statehood of Alaska & Hawaii) as your main point of reference here, you should be able to reason out the correct response. I really like this clue!
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, February 28, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Shall We Dance?; Alliterative Phrases; That’S In Asia; The Emmys; Feeling Charitable; A Little Histor”E”)
While Nick struggled early, picking up only 1 correct response and only getting in twice, Jake and Yogesh got off to a spirited battle.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Jake 7 correct 1 incorrect
Yogesh 5 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 1 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Yogesh did a three-hour interview with an Australian game show outlet.
Jake spent his winnings cautiously but had fun spending some of it.
Nick was in “Titanic”.
Jake had the best time after the interviews, picking up 9 correct responses, and more crucially, a $6,600 True Daily Double! He had a big lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jake 16 correct 1 incorrect
Yogesh 9 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 3 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jake $14,400
Yogesh $5,600
Nick $1,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: New U.S. Stamps For 2024; Women In Lit; Name That Tomb; British Actors & Actresses; In The Dictionary; Lesser-Known Sciences)
Incredibly, it took all of four clues for Yogesh to reel in Jake’s lead, aided by a pair of high-value rebounded incorrect responses of Jake’s. Incredibly, it was Nick who found both Daily Doubles—on back-to-back clues. Much like Hannah yesterday, though, he thought it necessary to make an aggressive bet on the second one, and an incorrect response dropped him out of contention. Meanwhile, Yogesh found another gear and picked up 17 correct in the round to hold a commanding lead going into Final Jeopardy!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Yogesh 26 correct 0 incorrect
Jake 20 correct 4 incorrect
Nick 10 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Yogesh $26,800
Jake $14,400
Nick $2,400
The light bulb didn’t come on for any of our players with this Final, making it a Triple Stumper, as Yogesh advances to the semifinals!
Tonight’s results:
Nick $2,400 – $2,399 = $1 (What is a state senator?)
Jake $14,400 – $12,401 = $1,999 (What is state senator?)
Yogesh $26,800 – $2,001 = $24,799 (What is president pro tempore) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) FEELING CHARITABLE $600 (clue #22)
Jake 6600 +6600 (Nick 800 Yogesh 4800)
2) NAME THAT TOMB $1200 (clue #10)
Nick 5800 +5800 (Jake 10800 Yogesh 12400)
3) IN THE DICTIONARY $1600 (clue #11, $20000 left on board)
Nick 11600 -10000 (Jake 10800 Yogesh 12400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 114
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Nick 1 4 4
Jake 5 3 2 4 3 4 2 3 2 3*
Yogesh 5 5 5 4 5 3 5 4 3
DJ! Round:
Nick 3 4 5 2 1 3* 4*
Jake
Yogesh 5 4 5 4
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Yogesh 4.38
Jake 3.10
Nick 3.10
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:
Yogesh $26,800 Coryat, 26 correct, 0 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 5/5 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Jake $8,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Nick $7,800 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $43,000
Lach Trash: $3,200 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,800
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Nick Cascone, career statistics:
135 correct, 21 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 28 rebound opportunities)
32.33% in first on buzzer (129/399)
7/13 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,000)
3/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,000
Jake DeArruda, career statistics:
117 correct, 23 incorrect
4/7 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
42.11% in first on buzzer (120/285)
8/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $37,400)
0/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,920
Yogesh Raut, career statistics:
133 correct, 10 incorrect
12/13 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
42.11% in first on buzzer (120/285)
5/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,200)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $22,760
Andy’s Thoughts:
- If you’re wondering why the prediction model below thinks Jared has a slightly better chance than Yogesh does, it’s because of Daily Double play at this point.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Yogesh $26,800 Jake $14,400 Nick $2,400)
Nick: Bet whatever you like; I can’t see Yogesh over-betting by the amount you need. (Actual bet: $2,399)
Jake: Bet at least $10,400. (Actual bet: $12,401)
Yogesh: Standard cover bet over Jake is $2,001. (Actual bet: $2,001)
Updated ToC odds:
Jared +490
Yogesh +520
Emily +700
Ben +1100
Juveria +1200
David +1300
Luigi +1500
Troy +1600
Ray +2000
Ike +2600
Sean +2700
Brian +2800
Josh +3400
Emmett +4300
Justin +5800
Stephen +6800
Melissa +9100
Deb +10000
Kevin +21000
Finals length odds:
3 games: +680
4 games: +310
5 games: +210
6 games: +290
7 games: +730
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I didn’t know that there was any political position that could be decided by a coin flip. I hate to draw blank, but I couldn’t even come up with a guess on this one.
I had a guess, but not a good one. House Head.
Here’s where I got stuck: I identified “Hiram” as a distinctively Mormon name (apparently inaccurate in this case) and kept thinking that Hiram Fong was likely a Utahn politician, which kept me from identifying the significance of 1959.
That seems good thinking to me, especially since there are presumably descendants in Utah of Chinese builders of the first transcontinental railroad and ‘Fong’ sounds likely Chinese (though there are many in Hawaii).
The only aspect I got right [though not having come up with any response] was the assumption that it was probably a federal position. [I thought there were too many political positions within so many states for Jeopardy! to have found a couple of such occurrences with confidence that they hadn’t missed any.]
I, too, unthinkingly dismissed the year as coincidental, but had I immediately thought about the Hawaii/Alaska thing, I don’t think that would have helped me because I would have assumed that either the “state” populace voted for them (and “senior” was either 1st of the top 2 elected or separate positions that were voted on) or they were appointed by the governor and the governor would have determined which would be senior.
But how did they decide which person had the privilege of calling the toss?
They flipped a coin for that, too, I guess?
Rock, paper, scissors? 😉
Curiosity got me, and I looked up all four inaugural senators to see when each came up for re-election the first time since they work it so that a state won’t have both senators up for re-election in the same year. I wonder if it was the same coin flip that decided which ones had to come up for re-election first.
Yogesh is so far showing those who were disparaging him wrong.
Today’s Final was an interesting bit of political trivia. If you knew that Fong was a Senator from Hawai’i, or, that Barlett was an Senator from Alaska one might have gotten this final. Akternatively, as Andy suggested, if 1959 lead you too Alska and Hawai’i becoming states, that could lead you to getting this Final right. Unfortunately, either happened for me.
Tough for me. I guessed president pro-temp of the senate.. should have guessed harder
This was an exciting game!
Oh yeah! 🙂
That was quite a run for Yogesh at the end. But he’s still buzzing in too early. Despite his superior knowledge it’ll be hard for him to win it all if he doesn’t improve his timing.
I knew that Hiram Fong was a long-time senator from Hawaii, so it was easy to figure this out based on the year. What is tricky is that the term is not official (and the clue does not imply that it is), but it is often used when senators refer to each other during debates. I believe the senators knew the term length of the seat they contended for.
I couldn’t deduce FJ, but I find it very interesting how the “Senior” and “Junior” Senators were. One would think that perhaps the older of the 2 would be designated the Senior Senator at the get go or perhaps a skill game of rock, paper, scissors (ro-sham-bo for others).
Down to 1 for 3 for the week in FJ. 🙁
But what a seriously up and down, crazy fun game that was. It had so many ebbs and flows. Jake on fire…..Yogesh on fire…..Nick gets his chance with back to back DD’s in Double Jeopardy and to me, he did exactly what he had to on both and was so close on the 2nd one. And then once again, Yogesh on fire!!! I truly enjoyed this matchup.
So, Yogesh is my first predicted win correct (1 of 4). I managed not to jinx him. Retro congrats to Yogesh on the win and from looking at the Official Jeopardy site a few minutes ago, it seems Semifinal #2 is set with a matchup of:
Podium 1 – David Sibley
Podium 2 – Yogesh Raut
Podium 3 – Emily Sands
That will be on Friday, March 8th and seems to be an excellent Semifinal.
No group hug at the end. 🙁
I have Juveria winning tomorrow night and we’ll see what happens. Should be fun with that matchup also including Luigi de Guzman and Kevin Belle (and his alter ego). 🙂