Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 11, 2023, 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 20th Century Literature) for Monday, December 11, 2023 (Season 40, Game 66):
Thomas Pynchon wrote that this novelist “in 1948 understood that despite the Axis defeat…fascism had not gone away”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Emma Saltzberg, a campaigns director from Brooklyn, New York |
Donesh Olyaie, a marketing director from Los Angeles, California |
Amal Dorai, a venture capital investor from San Francisco, California |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We enter the final full week of strike replacement programming on Jeopardy! today with the last quarterfinal of Fall 2023’s Champions Wildcard. Amal Dorai, Donesh Olyaie, and Emma Saltzberg return to the Alex Trebek Stage. My preview believes that this will be a relatively equal match between all three players. However, 3-day champions have tended to have an upper hand throughout the Champions Wildcard competitions—this may tip the scales in Emma’s direction today.
In case you missed my editorial columns this weekend, my Weekly Thoughts focused on one topic only: why Nick Cascone’s comments on Inside Jeopardy were spot on (and how Reddit has lost its way), and my Mailbag column answered questions about how contestants are paired and the show’s relationship with the Daytime Emmy Awards.
If you’re looking for a quick rundown of what happened last week, I write a weekly recap column for Geeks Who Drink’s Questionist, released every Sunday. Yesterday’s column was titled “Betting Strategy 101”. Questionist also has a newsletter that you can sign up for!
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Correct response: Who is George Orwell?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
For an edition of George Orwell’s 1984 published in 2003 to coincide with the centennial of Orwell’s birth, Thomas Pynchon contributed a foreword to the book. Prior to its publication, The Guardian published an edited extract of the introduction titled “The Road to 1984”. Orwell, having fought against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, saw firsthand of the dangers of fascism, and spent the rest of his career writing works in an attempt to warn against its dangers.
Pyncheon wrote “Orwell in 1948 understood that despite the Axis defeat, the will to fascism had not gone away, that far from having seen its day it had perhaps not yet even come into its own.” And “What could prevent the same thing from happening to Britain and the United States? Moral superiority? Good intentions? Clean living?”
With fascism so very clearly on the doorstep of the Western world in 2023, this Final Jeopardy clue definitely feels like a clue designed to get the viewer to consider that fascism has “not gone away”. Thankfully, we still have a chance to prevent it from completely overtaking us.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, December 11, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Got Your Name Tag?; It’s The Geneva Convention; The Music Of Canada; Hydrology; Circle Time; F-Stop)
Amal certainly got off to a hot start; seven correct responses to open the game was punctuated by a Daily Double! He had $7,600 before Donesh and Emma even got on the board. However, he only had $8,600 at the end of the round, as Donesh and Emma both got well on track through 30 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Amal 8 correct 0 incorrect
Donesh 5 correct 0 incorrect
Emma 0 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Emma did many interviews; her favorite one was her high school newspaper.
Donesh still is not wearing his Little Orphan Annie costume.
Amal had a cake made that looked like a Jeopardy! board for his viewing party.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Amal 12 correct 2 incorrect
Donesh 10 correct 1 incorrect
Emma 5 correct 0 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Amal $8,600
Donesh $4,600
Emma $2,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Country’s Unknown Soldier…; Directors’ First Features; The 7 Deadly Sin-Onyms; Home On The Range; Arts; Crafts)
Amal got to the second Daily Double, but an incorrect response on that brought him back to the field. After Emma played the last one, everyone was separated by just $200 with 12 clues to play! Emma did the best over those final 12 clues and held the lead going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Emma 16 correct 0 incorrect
Donesh 20 correct 4 incorrect
Amal 16 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Emma $15,000
Donesh $12,600
Amal $11,200
Amal and Emma both got Final correct; Emma is a semifinalist!
Tonight’s results:
Amal $11,200 + $11,200 = $22,400 (Who is Orwell?)
Donesh $12,600 – $12,600 = $0 (Who is Roth?)
Emma $15,000 + $10,201 = $25,201 (Who is Orwell?) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) HYDROLOGY $600 (clue #7)
Amal 4600 +3000 (Donesh 0 Emma 0)
2) ARTS $1600 (clue #8)
Amal 10600 -3000 (Donesh 7800 Emma 3800)
3) THE 7 DEADLY SIN-ONYMS $1200 (clue #18, $8000 left on board)
Emma 9000 +2000 (Amal 10800 Donesh 11000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 59
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Amal 3 2 4 4 5 5 3*
Donesh
Emma
DJ! Round:
Amal 4* 4 3 4 5
Donesh 5 4 4 5 5 4 5 5
Emma 1 3 3† 3 3*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Emma 2.60
Amal 3.83
Donesh 4.63
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:
Emma $14,200 Coryat, 16 correct, 0 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Amal $11,800 Coryat, 16 correct, 3 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Donesh $12,600 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,600
Lach Trash: $9,200 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,200
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Amal Dorai, career statistics:
69 correct, 13 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 16 rebound opportunities)
30.97% in first on buzzer (70/226)
6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $14,500)
3/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,400
Donesh Olyaie, career statistics:
57 correct, 9 incorrect
5/6 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (54/171)
1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$6,000)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,867
Emma Saltzberg, career statistics:
100 correct, 14 incorrect
8/9 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities)
32.75% in first on buzzer (93/284)
6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,400)
2/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,800
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: December 11, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Emma $15,000 Donesh $12,600 Amal $11,200)
Amal: If you think Donesh will bet bet, make a small bet. In that case, make sure to stay above $4,800 and bet no more than $6,400. If you think Donesh will make a small bet, go all in. (Actual bet: $11,200)
Donesh: You’re in Stratton’s Dilemma: you can’t both cover Amal and win a Double Stumper with Emma. If you think Amal will make a big bet, bet at least $9,801 to cover (but you might as well go all in in that case). If you think Amal will make a small bet, bet $5,001 to cover his small range. That said, if you’re betting for a Triple Stumper anyway, you might want to consider betting $0. (Actual bet: $12,600)
Emma: Standard cover bet over Donesh is $10,201. (Actual bet: $10,201)
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