Final Jeopardy: Cars (10-18-13)
The Final Jeopardy question (10/18/2013) in the category “Cars” was:
Introduced as a 2-seater and later celebrated in song, it was Motor Trend’s car of the year in 1958, 1987, 1989 & 2002.
3-day champ Stuart Anderson had a great game yesterday and brought his total winnings up to $51,601. Today he is up against two new players: Samantha Nataro, from Laurel, MD; and Nolan Martch, from Homewood, IL.
Samantha found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “A Novel Haiku.” She had no money, and Stuart had the lead with $2,400, She bet the $1,000 allowance and she was RIGHT.
Well! Oh Rochester! / What’s that up in the attic? / It’s insane up there!
show
Samantha finished in the lead with $6,400. Stuart was second with $4,400 and Nolan was last with $200.
Nolan found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “U.S. Lakes & Rivers.” He was in third place with $1,400 now, $5,000 behind Samantha’s lead. He bet the $2,000 allowance and thought it was the Snake River, but that was WRONG.
1,240 miles long & rich in hydro power, it’s the largest river by volume that flows from the U.S. into the Pacific Ocean. show
Nolan found the last Daily Double in “Gems.” With $1,400, he was in the exact same position as when he found the first one. He smiled sheepishly and only bet $1,000. This time, he was RIGHT.
In Taoism, Yudi is know as this green gemstone emperor and is often depicted holding a tablet of it. show
Samantha finished in the lead with $9,600. Stuart and Nolan were tied in second place with $7,600 each.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
According to Ford Thunderbird History, before the car was introduced in 1955, 5,000 names were considered. “Hep Cat, Beaver and Detroiter were early, yet undistinguished, front-runners. Also suggested were Runabout, Arcturus, Savile, El Tigre and Coronado.” Louis D. Crusoe, one of the designers, offered a $250 suit to anyone who could come up with something better. A young Ford stylist, Alden “Gib” Giberson, submitted the name “Thunderbird.” Giberson passed on the $250 suit and settled for $95 and an extra pair of trousers from Saks Fifth Avenue.
Stuart wrote down “Miata” and bet it all. He finished with zero.
Nolan had the “Impala.” He lost $5,600 and finished with $2,000.
Samantha had the “Corvette.” She lost $7,601 and finished with $1,999.
So Nolan, who really had a tough up-and-down time in this game, ended up the champ!
In the first round, we really thought we misheard when Nolan said “Nockingbird” instead of “Mockingbird” on “A Novel Haiku” clue because two kids in our family always said “Nockingbird” when they were toddlers, but he probably felt better later when Samantha answered (actress) Sonia Braga on a “Best Actor Oscar Winners” clue.
Don’t know why Alex Trebek thought that 1958 should have reminded them of the Beach Boy’s song “Fun Fun Fun.” It does mention the T-Bird, but there were an awful lot of car songs back then that had the car name in the song title for one thing, and for another, none of the contestants were around at the time.
We’ll see Nolan again on Monday, and hopefully, you too. Have a great weekend everyone.
what does the fox say?
now, having seen the show, i am surprised they didn’t catch the “mockingbird” mistake right away. they even had “KNOCKINGBIRD” in the captions…..and samantha- just unbelievable. she did not strike me as the nervous type. almost won it anyway, fell short of a tie by 1 buck. errare humanum est, i guess?
i have not seen the show yet, but if the numbers above are correct, why in the h… did she bet 7.601???? if nolan and stuart had 7.600 each, the most would have been 15.200 if they bet it all and were right. if samantha had 9.600 all she had to bet was 5.601 = 15.201 if she were also right. had she done that today – with the other results for nolan and stuart as they turned out, she would have ended up with 9.600 minus 5.601 = 3.999= she would have won by 1.999.
if the numbers are indeed correct, she must have had a short in her electrical brain system. must have been a case of the nerves.
i guess nolan is still trying to figure out how he won today……
but he won, so congratulations anyway.