The Final Jeopardy question (12/9/2011) in the category “First” Phrases” was:

“The earliest known use of this term was in an Indianapolis Star opinion piece of September 20, 1914.”

New champion William Castaneda returned today to take on a contestant from Virginia: Nicole Willson; and a contestant originally from Connecticut, Drew Bayers. He could still be from Connecticut for all we know — just not Milford, we guess, or they wouldn’t say originally.

William got the one and only Daily Double in the Jeopardy! round before the commercial break, after racking up a cool $6,000. The category was “Hip Hop Hoopsters.” William made his favorite Daily Double bet: $2,000, and he got it RIGHT.

This former hubby of Eva Longoria had some success in his native France with his hip hop album “TP” show

WHO IS TONY PARKER?

William finished first with $9,200. Nicole was in second place with half of that; and Drew was in third place with $800.

Nicole was successfully playing catch-up when she came across the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “What a 19th Century Character.” She bet $4,000 of her $7,000 and she was RIGHT. That gave her a $1,000 lead over William.

Mr. Woodhouse, eternally preoccupied with health & food, is the father of this Austen title character. show

WHO IS EMMA?

William caught a few bad breaks but recovered nicely. However, Nicole overtook the lead again and was in it when she found the last Daily Double in “World Press.” She risked $2,000 of her $17,800, but didn’t know this one and couldn’t figure it out in time either.

“Translate the name of Tulsa’s leading newspaper into French and you have this Paris daily.” show

WHAT IS “LE MONDE”

Nicole finished in the lead with $15,800. William was second with $15,200 and Drew was last with $12,800.

William was smiling, like he thought he knew it. Drew was just finishing up when the music ended. Nicole gave an eyebrow shrug when the camera panned by her. Only ONE player got it right. What an upset!

WHAT IS THE FIRST WORLD WAR?

Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist, is credited with coining the phrase when he wrote: “There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared ‘European War’… will become the first world war in the full sense of the word.” (wikipedia).

“Before World War II, the war was also known as The Great War, The World War, The Kaiser’s War, The War of the Nations, The War in Europe, or the European War. In the United Kingdom and the United States it was commonly call The war to end war. In France and Belgium, it was sometimes referred to as La Guerre du Droit (the War for Justice) or La Guerre Pour la Civilisation … (the War to Preserve Civilisation), especially on medals and commemorative monuments. The term used by official histories of the war in Britain and Canada is First World War, while American histories generally use the term World War I.”

Drew bet $6,400 and finished with $19,200.

William wrote down “What is the First World.” He bet it all and ended up with zip. Maybe he thought First World was the answer or he thought he had written the word ‘War.’ Well, he certainly had enough time to recheck his answer. “Boo. Hiss.” Alex said.

Nicole wrote down “What is World War I,” failing to heed Alex’s advice to notice the quotes around the word “First.” That cost her $9,801 and she finished with $5,999.

Cool game. Drew Bayers, who won over twice what William won yesterday, will return on Monday.