Warning: There may be spoilers in the post below at any point after 8:00 PM Eastern.
Tonight’s the night for Match #2 of the Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time! Here’s tonight’s game recap (for Wednesday, January 8, 2020):
Today’s contestants:
Brad Rutter, currently on 0 wins
|
Ken Jennings, currently on 1 win
|
James Holzhauer, currently on 0 wins
|
This is currently a placeholder post which will be updated with Final Jeopardy! information and a game recap once it is known.
Preview: Coming into a crucial Match 2, Ken will have a large amount of confidence after his Match 1 victory. Brad will need to bounce back after his struggle on Daily Doubles in Match 1, whereas James needs to start finding Daily Doubles after being shut out thus far in the event. If Ken wins again, this may very well be a short series. James may need to help himself by getting in first on the buzzer more; Ken won that battle 50-38 over James in Match 1.
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!
Part 1, Final Jeopardy! category: INFLUENTIAL WRITING
Part 1, Final Jeopardy! clue: Its second line is “All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: pope & czar, Metternich & Guizot”
Part 1, Final Jeopardy! correct response: What is “The Communist Manifesto”?
Part 2, Final Jeopardy! category: 19th CENTURY LEADERS
Part 2, Final Jeopardy! clue: Tall, lanky Joel Barlow was an ambassador carrying messages between these 2 world leaders, both mocked for being short
(Content continues below)
Part 2, Final Jeopardy! correct response: Who are Napoleon and James Madison?
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 $440 has been raised.)
In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in early 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time today? Today’s results will be posted once the show airs!
Game 1 results:
Brad 7,200 + 7,200 = 14,400
Ken 22,000 + 18,000 = 40,000
James 32,400 + 11,914 = 44,314
Game 2 results:
Brad -3,600 (by rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy) = 14,400
Ken 21,200 – 3,800 = 17,400 + 40,000 = 57,400 (Who are Napoleon and Monroe?)
James 22,800 + 15,300 = 38,100 + 44,314 = 82,414 (Match #2 winner)
Daily Double locations:
1) SHORT STORY SYLLABUS 600 (4th pick)
James 800 +1000 (Brad 1800 Ken 0)
2) AROUND THE WORLD 2000 (11th pick)
James 13600 +13600 (Ken 7600 Brad 4400)
3) THE GREATEST OF ALL MINDS 2000 (13th pick)
Ken 8400 +8400 (James 27200 Brad 4400)
4) NAME THE DECADE 1000 (4th pick)
Brad 800 +1000 (James 1600 Ken 0)
5) I JUST TOOK A DNA TEST 1600 (1st pick)
Brad 3800 -3800 (James 8400 Ken 6800)
6) “G”EOGRAPHY 1600 (3rd pick)
James 8400 +8400 (Ken 6800 Brad 0)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this match: 400
Unplayed clues:
Game 1, J! round: None!
Game 1, DJ! round: None!
Game 2, J! round: None!
Game 2, DJ! round: None!
Total $ Left On Board: 0
Game Stats:
James 36,400 Coryat, 50 correct, 4 incorrect, 44.74% in first on buzzer, 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Ken 36,800 Coryat, 44 correct, 2 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer, 5/7 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
Brad 7,400 Coryat, 18 correct, 6 incorrect, 18.42% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: 80,600
Lach Trash: 11,400(on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): 16,000
Cumulative Tournament Stats:
James 68,000 Coryat, 89 correct, 6 incorrect, 39.04% in first on buzzer, 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
Ken 73,000 Coryat, 92 correct, 7 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer, 6/8 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
Brad 32,400 Coryat, 46 correct, 10 incorrect, 20.18% in first on buzzer, 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: 173,400
Lach Trash: 13,800(on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): 28,800
James Holzhauer, stats to date:
1,400 correct, 51 incorrect
41/44 on rebound attempts (on 87 rebound opportunities)
55.15% in first on buzzer (1279/2319)
81/87 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $699,988)
39/41 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $28,731
James Holzhauer, to win (per the prediction model):
Wins in 3: 0.000% of the time.
Wins in 4: 27.545% of the time.
Wins in 5: 26.212% of the time.
Wins in 6: 11.572% of the time.
Wins in 7: 3.241% of the time.
Overall: 68.570% of the time.
Ken Jennings, stats to date:
3,028 correct, 302 incorrect
113/141 on rebound attempts
58.11% in first on buzzer (2926/5037)
146/176 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $473,799)
57/87 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $26,206
Ken Jennings, to win (per the prediction model):
Wins in 3: 0.000% of the time.
Wins in 4: 8.535% of the time.
Wins in 5: 12.050% of the time.
Wins in 6: 5.826% of the time.
Wins in 7: 1.764% of the time.
Overall: 28.176% of the time.
Brad Rutter, stats to date:
741 correct, 87 incorrect
42/45 on rebound attempts
39.80% in first on buzzer (702/1764)
44/54 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $59,500)
17/28 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,129
Brad Rutter, to win (per the prediction model):
Wins in 3: 0.000% of the time.
Wins in 4: 0.000% of the time.
Wins in 5: 0.618% of the time.
Wins in 6: 1.506% of the time.
Wins in 7: 1.130% of the time.
Overall: 3.254% of the time.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- This is what happens when James picks up some Daily Doubles. Also, that was a crucial get on the final Final Jeopardy! to seal the victory.
- Kudos to Ken for being able to keep the game close, though. Missing that Final Jeopardy! thankfully had no effect on the outcome for him.
- At this point, I’d be very surprised if Brad were to win a game. Ken and James are completely outplaying him at this point.
- The prediction model is bullish on James because James is playing better than the model thought that he would. James is going to need to keep finding some Daily Doubles; Ken ran things very close despite only playing 1 to James’ 3.
Contestant photo credit: abc.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.
What I have noticed is that the clues being given are designed to keep the players from knowing when the clue will end which really tests buzzer skills. Some of the clues are going several screens and many are video clues with different readers and different rates of delivery. This one was the perfect example as it seemed like it could be answered at the end of each of the three screens!
Andy, James must have seen your comments yesterday. He reversed the first-in-on-the-buzzer stats!
Oops! I forgot that the taping was on 12-10-19. What I should have said was that James likely realized that he needed to address this stat, after Day 1.
*** i never watched Brad before, but I heard Ken say previously that Brad has an advantage based on his super fast buzzer skills. ANYWAY, Brad isn’t showing that speed and James clearly outclasses both Ken and Brad in buzzer speed.
*** Also I have been very impressed with Ken overall knowledge….would love to see a Ken vs Brad, 1 on 1 showdown….Maybe jeopardy could do that for Part 2 of the GOAT
But Ken has played Brad before and never won. Why do it again?
I find that the material for this tournament is much more difficult. I’m amazed that they get most clues right.
It ain’t called “The Greatest of All Time” tournament for nuthin’! These guys truly are the best of the best. 🙂
Andy, I apologize in advance for asking you to do more work, but would you consider adding a section to the players’ individual stats which shows each of their cumulative stats for the GOAT tournament (or matchplay, however it should be styled)?
Brad’s performance so far is curious. Do you have his individual stats from 2019’s “All Star Game” when he was the team captain and Larissa Kelly and Dave Madden were on his team? I know Brad’s team won but how well did Brad actually play during that tournament?
If they’re gonna add the two games together, maybe someone finishing in the red one game should subtract from their total. I know Jeopardy treats anything beliw zero as if it were zero but this wrinkle would make things a bit more interesting.
The fact James and Ken were able to lock out Brad from a FJ is a bit of a shock