Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Animated Characters) for Tuesday, May 28, 2019 (Season 35, Episode 187):
This cartoon character was based on a character in the educational comic “The Intertidal Zone”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Sara Feeney, a stay-at-home mom from Livonia, Michigan![]() |
Jim-Bob Williams, a therapeutic humorist from St. Albans, West Virginia![]() |
James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler from Las Vegas, Nevada (28-day total: $2,195,557)![]() |
If you’re curious to see how James’ stats so far shape up to those of Ken Jennings, you can find them at A James Holzhauer vs. Ken Jennings Statistical Comparison.
James has reached 1,000 correct responses on the show and has moved to #2 all-time on that list! See who else has at least 300 on our 300 Club page!
Did you attempt any of the online tests last month? You can find last week’s questions and answers here!
The Jeopardy! Book of Answers is out now! Here’s my review.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is SpongeBob SquarePants?
Did you know that you can now find game-by-game stats of everyone, including James, who has won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!, here on the site?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
Aye, aye, Captain! SpongeBob SquarePants was originally a character named Bob the Sponge in creator Stephen Hillenburg’s comic book The Intertidal Zone. Developed in 1989, he had evolved into SpongeBoy in 1994 and SpongeBob Squarepants by the 1999 television series that bore his name.
In an interesting coincidence, the only other time SpongeBob SquarePants was the correct response to Final Jeopardy was Ken Jennings’ 7th game, where he set a record with a Coryat score of $39,200 that, as of May 27, 2019, still stands.
Since Alex Trebek’s diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, many community members have been raising money. The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store is as well! All proceeds from any “Keep The Faith And We’ll Win” shirt sold will be donated to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. To date, over $370 has been raised.)
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
James $41,381
Sara $11,600
Jim-Bob $8,400
Tonight’s results:
Jim-Bob $8,400 – $8,390 = $10 (Who is Aquaman?)
Sara $11,600 + $5,201 = $16,801
James $41,381 + $18,000 = $59,381 (29-day total: $2,254,938)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
James $12,000
Jim-Bob $5,200
Sara $1,000
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) THE EASTERN SEABOARD $800 (3rd pick)
Jim-Bob 1000 +1000 (James 1000 Sara 0)
2) “B” SPOKE SHAKESPEARE $1600 (2nd pick)
Sara 3000 +3000 (James 12000 Jim-Bob 5200)
3) 1950s PEOPLE $2000 (7th pick)
James 16400 +11381 (Sara 8000 Jim-Bob 5200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 269
Unplayed clues:
J! round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: $0
Game Stats:
James $32,000 Coryat, 34 correct, 0 incorrect, 57.89% in first on buzzer
Sara $10,200 Coryat, 11 correct, 0 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer
Jim-Bob $8,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 0 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $50,400
Lach Trash: $3,600 (on 2 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $0
James Holzhauer, stats to date:
1,053 correct, 31 incorrect
31/34 on rebound attempts (on 62 rebound opportunities)
58.35% in first on buzzer (954/1635)
63/67 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $596,257)
28/29 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $30,848
James Holzhauer, to win:
30 games: 98.056%
31: 96.151%
32: 94.282%
33: 92.450%
34: 90.653%
75: 40.542%
Avg. streak: 79.453 games.
(This is using the updated model.)
Tournament of Champions projections:
With a projected 73 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 500,000 simulations, our model shows:
James Holzhauer qualified 100.000% of the time.
Eric R. Backes qualified 94.001% of the time.
Anneke Garcia qualified 79.163% of the time.
Lindsey Shultz qualified 53.390% of the time.
Dave Leffler qualified 31.415% of the time.
Jonathan Dinerstein qualified 23.857% of the time.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- $59,381 is the 24th-highest regular play total of all time. James currently holds 20 of the top 25 single-game regular-play totals of all time.
- James’ previous low total on a Tuesday was $86,905, set last Tuesday (May 21).
- James has been correct on his last 23 Final Jeopardy! clues.
- The prediction model gives James a 94.281% chance of surpassing Ken Jennings’ winnings total of $2,520,700, and a 54.413% chance of James surpassing Brad Rutter’s all-time winnings total of $4,688,436. (At his current average, James would pass Ken on June 3 and Brad on July 25.)
- James’ average winning total on Tuesdays is now $96,487.
- This is the fourth time in the last 10 regular-play games that there were $0 in incorrect responses given by the contestants. Prior to April 30, there were only 2 confirmed regular-play games in the entirety of J! Archive in which no contestants gave an incorrect response.
Become a Supporter now! Make a monthly contribution to the site on Patreon!
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any statistics from this page or this website, attribution is required.
Have you had a chance to listen to our new podcast game show, Complete The List, yet? Check it out! It’s also available on Apple Podcasts.
Rank your Favorite players ever on Jeopardy? The ones you most enjoyed watching…
List as many as you want, in order if possible……
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Austin Rogers
Matt Jackson
Ken Jennings
Moderation note: The request was to rank favorite players. Please be kind to contestants; ranking least favorites is not kind to contestants.
James Holzhauer
Lavar Burton
Ken Jennings
Leonard Cooper
Austin Rogers
Cliff Clavin
Gloria Clemente
The plumber, Ph.D.
The architect, Ph.D.
Weird Al
James Holzhauer
Brad Rutter
Ken Jennings
Roger Craig
Austin Rogers
Julia Collins
Buzzy Cohen
Larissa Kelley
Dave Madden
James Holzhauer
Alex Jacob
Buzzy Cohen
Ken Jennings
Austin Rogers
James Holzhauer
Austin Rogers
Regis Philbin (1992 appearance with Donna Mills and Carol Burnett)
Alex Jacob
Larissa Kelly
Jackie Fuchs
I’m not a super-fan so I don’t know too many players. James can have my top 3 positions 🙂
James
James
James
Buzzy
Julia
In no particular order:
Pam Mueller (fascinating educational background)
Alan Lin (overcame his shyness to talk trash with Buzzy Cohen and Austin Rogers)
Lisa Schlitt (a fellow microbiologist, and a volunteer firefighter)
Colby Burnett (exuberant personality)
Julia Collins (again, an interesting educational background, and the epitome of nice)
I tend to root for women contestants, people with interesting backgrounds, and those who show a joy in playing Jeopardy!
E. coli
LOVED Lisa Schlitt.
Alex Jacob
Austin Rogers
James Holzhauser
Colby Burnett
I forgot Buzzy Cohen and pardon my misspelling of James last name.
Interestingly, James has still never finished with a total in the $60k range.
He has 20, 30, 40, 50, —, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, —, 130 decile scores.
But he was close today.
What is a Coryat score?
It’s essentially the score without any forced answers (ie. daily doubles/final jeopardy) included.
(cf. http://j-archive.com/help.php#coryatscore.)
Another statistic: 11 straight shows without a Daily Double miss. That has to be a record?
David Madden had a string of 12 games in a row without missing a Daily Double.
Frank Spangenberg
Austin
James
I have three #1s:
For sheer brilliance and mastery of the game: James.
For sheer comedy: No one comes close to Austin.
For inspiring faith in humanity and in the human spirit: Eddie Timanus, from a while ago. (Newbies, look him up.)