Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, August 6, 2021


Today is the final day of David Faber’s hosting stint. Through 4 days, $115,400 has been donated to the Robin Hood Foundation. Next week, the final guest host, Joe Buck, hosts for Kidsmart. Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Literature & The Animal Kingdom) for Friday, August 6, 2021 (Season 37, Game 225):

In 2020 scientists named Trimeresurus Salazar, a new species of this, after a character in a book series

(correct response beneath the contestants)


Today’s contestants:

Madeline Birkner, a college access program coordinator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Madeline Birkner on Jeopardy!
Patrick Pacheco, a labor and employment specialist from Denver, Colorado
Patrick Pacheco on Jeopardy!
Matt Amodio, a Ph.D student from New Haven, Connecticut (12-day total: $394,600)
Matt Amodio on Jeopardy!

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Matt’s 12-game streak has been completely overshadowed the past few days by the leaked report on Wednesday that Mike Richards (who has been sued multiple times for harassment and discrimination, by the way) was in advanced negotiations to become the next host of Jeopardy. Yesterday, it came out that Richards lied to Jeopardy! fans about the circumstances behind him taking an “emergency” guest hosting spot. Mike Richards is a man who has lost my trust and my goodwill. He needs to be fired. There are plenty of people in the game show production sphere with show-running and hosting experience who could immediately step in and replace Richards and who don’t have these issues.

Meanwhile, Matt Amodio really shows no signs of stopping. Even when his opponents have run him closely, he’s been able to pull out a victory. If he wins today, he’ll be the first player to play under 4 different hosts.


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Correct response: What is a snake?


Did you know that you can now find game-by-game stats of everyone, now including Jason Zuffranieri and James Holzhauer, who has won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!, here on the site?


More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)

Trimeresurus Salazar is a species of pit viper recently discovered in western Arunachal Pradesh, India, and named after Salazar Slytherin from the Harry Potter series of books, authored by the transphobic JK Rowling. Slytherin was known in the novels for being a “parseltongue”, having the ability to talk to snakes.

(Relating this back to Jeopardy: Mike Richards would 100% be in Slytherin House if he were at Hogwarts.)


We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:


Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!

Scores going into Final:
Matt $25,600
Madeline $5,800
Patrick $4,200


Tonight’s results:
Patrick $4,200 + $4,200 = $8,400 (What is a snake?)
Madeline $5,800 – $2,601 = $3,199 (What is Harry Potter?)
Matt $25,600 + $10,000 = $35,600 (What is snake?) (13-day total: $430,200)


Matt Amodio, today's Jeopardy! winner (for the August 6, 2021 game.)


Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Matt $10,400
Patrick $2,600
Madeline $1,600



Opening break taken after: 15 clues


Daily Double locations:
1) OCEANOGRAPHIC TERMS $1000 (clue #2)
Matt 1000 +1000 (Patrick 0 Madeline 0)
2) “G” I’D LIKE TO GO THERE $1200 (clue #1)
Madeline 1600 +1000 (Matt 10400 Patrick 2600)
3) ANCIENT SYMBOLS $1600 (clue #6, $28400 left on board)
Matt 10800 +2000 (Patrick 200 Madeline 5000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 169


Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 209 (0.93 per episode average), 2 Daily Doubles


Game Stats:
Matt $25,200 Coryat, 34 correct, 3 incorrect, 59.65% in first on buzzer (34/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Patrick $4,200 Coryat, 8 correct, 4 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Madeline $6,000 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,400
Lach Trash: $9,000 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,600

Matt Amodio, career statistics:
406 correct, 50 incorrect
20/24 on rebound attempts (on 51 rebound opportunities)
53.56% in first on buzzer (391/730)
24/28 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $89,600)
9/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $24,908

Patrick Pacheco, career statistics:
9 correct, 4 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,200

Madeline Birkner, career statistics:
11 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,000

Matt Amodio, to win:
14 games: 88.821%
15: 78.892%
16: 70.073%
17: 62.240%
18: 55.282%
Avg. streak: 20.946 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:

  • $154,000 has been donated thus far to the Robin Hood Foundation; $2,814,626 has been donated on behalf of all hosts.
  • I would like to reiterate this for those who are asking why I’m not willing to give Mike Richards a chance: He lied to us as fans. He took a guest hosting spot under false pretenses. That action killed all intellectual credibility that he might have going forward. Once again: If he is willing to lie about that, what else is he willing to lie about? Jeopardy! is ostensibly a bastion of truth; having a liar as host takes that away.
  • Also: the worst decision of the guest hosting era was to allow Dr. Oz a hosting stint; ratings fell about 18% from Katie Couric’s two weeks and viewers didn’t return; ratings stayed at a very similar level post-Oz.

Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com

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14 Comments on "Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, August 6, 2021"

  1. Now this is one specific FJ! category 😄Alas, I didn’t know it 😆🤷‍♀️

  2. David Faber is by far the best guest host

    • I agree, although Mayim Bialik was also wonderful. LeVar Burton’s enthusiasm seemed a bit contrived at times.

  3. Now that we know about that sleazy (not) old man Richards’ proclivities (and some old ones resurfacing), retaining him on any show (including ”Wheel” and ”Chain Reaction”) in any capacity would be a colossal PR disaster. Rather telling that his accusations resurfaced on the very same trade magazine that reported he was in “advanced negotiations” to begin with.

    As for the Final Jeopardy clue, I never read Harry Potter, so I didn’t know it.

  4. After next week, will Mike Rochards start regular hosting duties? Jeopardy will become “The Mike and Matt Show”

    I think they should continue with guest hosts. Maybe give some past guests a other chance and offer guest hosting to classic old timers like Bob Barker and Bob Eubanks.

  5. Nancy Miller | August 6, 2021 at 12:03 pm |

    Have been an ardent jeopardy fan forever. Mike Richards as host will end that immediately. He is not only a sleazeball but a very boring host. Too bad.😢

  6. Nancy Miller | August 6, 2021 at 12:06 pm |

    Speaking of snakes….

  7. I too am disappointed that Mike Richards is the probable heir apparent. I thought the majority of the guest hosts were very good and clearly a better choice should be made. That said, I was very surprised about all the LeVar Burton articles that suggested he should have been selected since he was above and beyond better that any guest host. He did an outstanding job but so did many others. I understand fan disappointment some of what I read seems over the top. Clearly, Richard’s should not be the choice. Too many better options including Mr. Burton.

  8. Fork Mike Richards, have a feeling with these decade old allegations, they may have to start going into his past to see what else happened pre-TPIR.

  9. Zoe Wimberly | August 6, 2021 at 1:00 pm |

    Completely agreed on the Mike Richards situation. Honestly, my initial reaction was fierce disappointment but I could have accepted it pretty quickly with resentment and acknowledged my reaction as hyperbolic. With these allegations resurfacing though, as well as the fraudulent way the process was conducted? Yeah, miss me with this. I may honestly pass off my all-time leaderboard to someone else to keep track of if they go through with Richards as the host because I now believe the show has lost a ton of integrity. I really hope Sony takes this backlash seriously and listens to their viewers for once, but I’m not holding my breath.

  10. When are they supposed to start shooting shows with the new host?

  11. Fun fact: had Matt bet $201 more, he would have surpassed Dave Madden’s own streak winnings and taken the #4 spot on the streak earnings leaderboard.

  12. I wpuld agree on the Mike Richards situation but since he is in negotiations to be a permanent host I don’t know what don’t would say.

    Overall harry potter books and movies have been my favorite series so I got this one. The snakes have been very popular in India thus far. And a big congratulations to matt on his win today.

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