Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 7, 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 Ancient Drama) for Thursday, March 7, 2024 (Season 40, Game 129):
From the 470s B.C., Aeschylus’ earliest surviving work has this title; he’d fought them repeatedly in the preceding years
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Ike Barinholtz, a producer, writer & actor from Chicago, Illinois
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Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin
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Jared Watson, a quality control specialist from Greenville, Texas
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
The Tournament of Champions continues today with the first semifinal, featuring both of the two biggest upset winners of the quarterfinals: Jared Watson took down Cris Pannullo, while Ike Barinholtz defeated Ray Lalonde. Their reward: Ben Chan, who had a dominant performance in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The prediction model thinks that Ben, while favored to take victory, may not have the easiest road into the final—Jared absolutely has the necessary game to take victory in this semi-final, while Ike certainly showed the world how much game he has when he beat Ray earlier this week!
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)
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
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Correct response: What is The Persians?
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.)
Based on Aeschylus’s own experiences, especially his having fought in the Battle of Salamis the decade prior, The Persians is a story surrounding the Persian king Xerxes, blaming Xerxes’s hubris and pride for Persia’s defeat to the Greeks. (Xerxes famously attempted to bridge the Hellespont with a pontoon bridge, and ordered the water whipped for its defiance when the bridge failed. The Hellespont—known today as the Dardanelles—was only successfully bridged in 2022 with the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, over 2,500 years after Xerxes’s attempt.)
There’s certainly a chance for some amusing incorrect responses on this clue, especially if one gets their Greek playwrights mixed up. (I’m sitting here thinking of what might ensue if someone guesses The Frogs or The Clouds—both by Aristophanes.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, March 7, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Getting Historical; Books By Characters; Sports Mascot History; Unusual Nicknames; The Material World; Before & After)
Much like his quarterfinal, Jared got to the Daily Double. While he got it slightly earlier than his first game, it was enough to tie him with Ben for the lead after 15 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ben 6 correct 0 incorrect
Jared 5 correct 0 incorrect
Ike 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Ike won $1,000,000 for Pacific Clinics in Celebrity Jeopardy.
Ben got called ChanGPT by one of his students.
Jared got surprised by his ToC invite from his local affiliate.
Both Ben and Jared played very well after the break, but Jared picked up $600 more and thus led after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Jared 11 correct 1 incorrect
Ben 11 correct 0 incorrect
Ike 6 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jared $7,400
Ben $6,800
Ike $1,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Gitalong, Old Paint; Ends In Double Letters; Boy Genius; Bridgers; Baker; The Tallest One)
It seemed like Ben was nervous in this round, firstly evidenced by just a $4,000 bet on the round’s first Daily Double. Jared had an opportunity for the lead on the last one, but couldn’t pull the correct response. From there, Ike went on a roll to make sure that Ben didn’t have a runaway going into Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Ben 21 correct 2 incorrect
Ike 13 correct 1 incorrect
Jared 17 correct 3 incorrect
Scores going into Final:
Ben $15,200
Ike $10,400
Jared $3,600
This Final Jeopardy was a Triple Stumper, which should have been “advantage Ike”. However, Ike went all in instead of betting $0—and Ben Chan advances to the finals!
Tonight’s results:
Jared $3,600 – $0 = $3,600 (What is take the online test This could be you!)
Ike $10,400 – $10,400 = $0 (What is The Spartans?)
Ben $15,200 – $5,601 = $9,599 (What is The Censors??) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE MATERIAL WORLD $600 (clue #8)
Jared 1800 +1800 (Ben 3000 Ike -1000)
2) BOY GENIUS $1600 (clue #3)
Ben 7600 +4000 (Jared 7400 Ike 1600)
3) ENDS IN DOUBLE LETTERS $1600 (clue #5, $29600 left on board)
Jared 8600 -8600 (Ben 11600 Ike 1600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 53
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Jared 3 3 3*
Ben 4 5 4 5 4
Ike
DJ! Round:
Jared 4*
Ben 4* 3
Ike 3 2
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Ben 4.14
Jared 3.25
Ike 2.50
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:
Ben $12,800 Coryat, 21 correct, 2 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Jared $11,000 Coryat, 17 correct, 3 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Ike $10,400 Coryat, 13 correct, 1 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $34,200
Lach Trash: $11,400 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,400
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Jared Watson, career statistics:
140 correct, 20 incorrect
8/11 on rebound attempts (on 36 rebound opportunities)
37.54% in first on buzzer (128/341)
9/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,400)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,733
Ben Chan, career statistics:
337 correct, 31 incorrect
15/19 on rebound attempts (on 47 rebound opportunities)
45.31% in first on buzzer (309/682)
21/28 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $41,405)
8/12 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $22,317
Ike Barinholtz, career statistics:
163 correct, 8 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
41.80% in first on buzzer (153/366)
8/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $47,600)
4/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,260
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I don’t know what else to say but “Wagering strategy is important, folks!”
- I should also say that Ike is not the first player to make such a mistake in a Tournament of Champions situation like this, and I doubt he’ll be the last.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Ben $15,200 Ike $10,400 Jared $3,600)
Jared: (Actual bet: $0)
Ben: Standard cover bet over Ike is $5,601. (Actual bet: $5,601)
Ike: If Ben makes the standard cover bet, he falls to $9,599. Bet no more than $800 and hope Ben misses. (Actual bet: $10,400)
Updated ToC odds:
Ben +140
Troy +410
Luigi +590
Yogesh +700
Emily +1000
Brian +1900
David +2000
Finals length odds:
3 games: +700
4 games: +310
5 games: +210
6 games: +300
7 games: +720
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Only got this because of my theatre background. Without that knowledge base, I would have been pretty thoroughly out at sea on this one, but I could see someone getting it through a knowledge of ancient wars.
Not being familiar with Aeschylus, I guessed “What is ‘The Trojans’?”
Same here.
Me too.
Ditto, though I was first thinking “maybe in the Peloponnesian War”, so was trying to think of the Spartans but couldn’t come up with the name, not that remembering ‘Spartans’ would have helped me any more than it did Ike. Afterward I was surprised to find that I was in the right area, only a few decades off, and Persia did get involved. So even though Ike was wrong, I feel like he had more of the knowledge needed (just NOT QUITE enough) to possibly come up with the right response than a lot of people would have expected him to have. Even if I had come up with Spartans, it would have just be a lucky guess (to even get “close”), but I feel like for Ike it was an “educated guess”. Ben’s answer was also an educated guess and I feel like they were both EQUALLY reasonable (but still wrong) guesses. However, if they had each made the opposite response, I bet it likely that a lot of people would be thinking that Ike had just made a joke about fighting censors (like how Jared had just taken the opportunity to say something instead of trying to guess a correct response).
[My attempt to make a joke: it was the Egyptians who “went up against” the frogs but that was not repeatedly for years.😁]
I thought maybe it was “The Critics” but I guess those ancient playwrights had bigger concerns.
Major credit and respect to Ike for doing incredibly well in this tournament. Congrats to Ben as well.
Credit and respect to Jared, too. If he hadn’t lost $8,600 on that last DD, he would have been in excellent position to win this game with a strategic FJ wager. All three contestants had their chances. Good game, guys.
Ike could’ve won if he wagered properly.
“470 B.C.” was my key to this one; I pegged that as about ten years after the Battle of Thermopylae — and having seen 300, I knew who the Greeks faced off against.
As soon as Final ended, I pulled out the calculator to see if Ike had broken Ben’s crush position; seeing that he had, I had a sinking feeling he’d bet it all, and it unfortunately proved his downfall today.
A little surprised with as much info as is available on betting strategies (including this site), that Ike would have messed that up. But as noted, you still do see people making wagering blunders. I can remember when I started watching Jeopardy with my dad 40 years ago that the best strategy for someone in second place of a non-runaway game was to bet nothing. This site has nuanced that a ton to make it an even more informed decision with more precision. Congrats to Ben on the win (his voice reminds me so much of the father of one of my kids’ friends its uncanny). And to Ike and Jared. Amazing how close Ike came to making a ToC Finals.
Brian, even assuming third place has no way of winning so you can ignore them, betting nothing is only good if the leader is not in a crush position. If they are in a crush position, you will not win betting zero unless they over wager, i.e, you have 10,000 and they have 18,000.
Hi, Andy,
I subscribe to an email publication called “Dr. Eifrig’s Health and Wealth Bulletin.” In today’s essay, Dr. Eifrig introduced the topic of “Forgetfullness and Dementia,” with an interesting bit about “Jeopardy!” If you think it’s okay, I want to share it with your subscriber’s as I found it interesting. You probably know some of this already but I thought it was interesting and thought you might like to share it with your readership. It’s also a good reminder that the contestants are in a stressful situation. Here is what Doc Eifrig wrote:
“One of the most stress-inducing melodies on TV was meant to be a lullaby…
Originally, the song was called “A Time for Tony” instead of its current title, “Think!”
Merv Griffin, the creator of the TV game show Jeopardy!, wrote that ditty in 1963 to help his 5-year-old son fall asleep.
Since 1984, “Think!” has played as the opening and ending theme song for the show. And it’s played during Final Jeopardy!, the stage where the winner of the episode is determined.
During Final Jeopardy!, the remaining contestants must rack their brains to think of the correct answer to a particularly hard question in just 30 seconds… with cameras trained on them, in front of a big studio audience, and that infernally cheery music playing in the background.
It would be stressful for anyone.”
The rest of the essay deals with the difference between forgetfulness and dementia. If people are interested in the remainder of the essay, I can share that, too. I’ll understand if you don’t publish this.
I always assumed part of the reason they play that theme over Final is to try to drown out any response the audience members might be saying out loud. And of course it enables the contestants to know how much time they have left.
Hi Nick-O. Not sure if you’ve ever been to a taping of Jeopardy or not, but the audience is pretty compliant in that the people of Jeopardy ask you to keep your answers in your head and not say them out loud.
I couldn’t help but chuckle when “Books By Characters” for $800 was revealed. I am reading “Beloved” right now and I read the part describing how Baby Suggs got her name not 10 minutes before the show started today. Crazy coincidence.
I got Final Jeopardy right!
Woot woot! 🙂 Not me!
Ha ha, I did exactly what Andy talked about and confused the dramatist with a comedy writer. Except I thought maybe he had an avian problem and came up with The Birds.
And does anyone from the 20th century show up in a Jeopardy clue more often than Frida Kahlo?
Missed FJ, again. 0 for 4 for the week and an 8 day losing streak. 🙁
Retro congrats to Ben on the win and making it to the Final. I see that he drew Lectern #3.
I had Ben winning this one and wow, he barely made it through. A win is a win though.
I have Emily tomorrow night and I have now made 3 picks correct in a row. Should be good!
Have a great Friyay everyone! 🙂
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