The Final Jeopardy question (9/17/2012) in the category “Islands” was:

Of the world’s largest islands by area, the 2 with territory of more than 1 country are Borneo and this one.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen our last Jeopardy! champion: Alison Parakh from Santa Barbara, CA In fact that was back on July 27th when she won $15,201. Today she takes on these two players: Vamsi Adusumilli, originally from Columbia, MO and Diane Samuelson, from Allandale, VA.

Alex Trebek gave us all a very warm welcome to the start of the new season and mentioned that in May, Jeopardy! won the prestigious Peabody Award and, in June, their 30th Emmy Award. Finally, Alex thanked everyone who sent him well wishes when he was he had his “little heart thing” in June.

Alison found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double pretty quick in “Oscar Winners.” She was at minus $200 while Diane and Vamsi were both $200 ahead of her with nothing. She bet the Jeopardy! allowance of $1,000 and she was WRONG.

This Oscar-winning daughter of an Oscar-winning director plays producer Eileen Rand on ‘Smash.’
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WHO IS ANJELICA HUSTON?

Diane finished in the lead with $3,400. Vamsi was second with $2,800 and Alison was in last place with $2,000.

Diane found the first Double Jeopardy Daily Double in “Giving a Pup Talk.” She now had $4,600, $1,800 more than Vamsi and $2,600 more than Alison. She bet $600 and she was RIGHT.

This Shakespeare play includes the line “Cry ‘Havoc’! and let slip the dogs of war.”
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WHAT IS JULIUS CAESAR?

Diane also found the last Daily Double in “‘Sep’-tember.” She now had $8,000, but only a $400 lead over Vamsi, She bet $1,000 this time and she was RIGHT.

The part of a cross-shaped church that intersects the main aisle at right angles.
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WHAT IS TRANSEPT?

Diane finished in the lead with $11,400. Vamsi was next with $8,800. Even though Alison impressively pulled herself up into second place in the 90s music category, she dropped down to third place with a wrong answer on the last clue.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS PAPUA NEW GUINEA?

“New Guinea, the second largest island in the world…. is divided into two parts: the independent country of Papua New Guinea (eastern half), and the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (the western half formerly known as Irian Jaya).” (Rainforest – Mongabay.com: New Guinea)

Alison wrote down Australia and lost her $5,500 bet. She finished with $500.

Vamsi got it right. He added $4,000 to his score to finish with $12,800.

Diane wrote down Hispaniola. That cost her $7,000 so she wound up with $4,400.

So we start out the brand new season with a brand new champion.