recaps

Season 38

Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, May 20, 2022

Published Modified

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 2026)
(Source: Bell Fibe TV program guide)

All Time Winnings

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Regular Play Only:

1. Ken Jennings $2,520,700
2. James Holzhauer $2,462,216
3. Matt Amodio $1,518,601
4. Amy Schneider $1,382,800
5. Jamie Ding $882,605
6. Cris Pannullo $748,286
7. Mattea Roach $560,983
8. Jason Zuffranieri $532,496
9. Scott Riccardi $455,000
10. David Madden $430,400
11. Julia Collins $428,100
12. Matt Jackson $411,612
13. Austin Rogers $411,000
14. Ray Lalonde $386,400
15. Harrison Whitaker $373,999
16. Adriana Harmeyer $349,600
17. Caleb Groen $346,968
18. Adam Remsen $306,415
19. Ryan Long $299,400
20. Arthur Chu $297,200

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Including Tournaments (and Consolation Prizes):

1. Brad Rutter $4,968,436
2. Ken Jennings $4,372,700
3. James Holzhauer $3,614,216
4. Matt Amodio $1,964,601
5. Amy Schneider $1,864,800
6. Yogesh Raut $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category On the Map) for Friday, May 20, 2022 (Season 38, Game 180):

It’s referred to as “the blue eye of Siberia”

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s contestants:

Toni Alimi, a post-doc from Ithaca, New York

Toni Alimi on Jeopardy!

Li-Mae McClellan, a law student from St. Louis, Missouri

Li-Mae McClellan on Jeopardy!

Ryan Long, a rideshare driver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (5-day total: $105,801)

Ryan Long on Jeopardy!

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Ryan Long is one game away from running the table this week, and is now at five wins total after picking up a win yesterday! Li-Mae McClellan and Toni Alimi are your challengers today, trying to stop Ryan from getting to six victories!

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Correct response: What is Lake Baikal?

More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2022 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)

Situated in southern Siberia, Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest lake, with a maximum depth of over one mile. It is also the world’s largest freshwater lake by volume due to its depth, containing over 20% of the world’s fresh water. “Blue Eye of Siberia” is also the name of a 1990 documentary aiming to raise concerns about the fragility of its ecosystem.

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Game Recap:

Jeopardy! Round categories: St. Patrick’s Cathedral; South American Cities; What College; That’s in Admissible!; The Farmer; Adele

Our challengers got off to a hot start today, with both Li-Mae and Toni doing well over the first seven clues. Unfortunately for Toni, clue #8 was the Daily Double and he fell back to $0. He did recover well, with 6 correct himself between the interviews and the end of Single Jeopardy! Meanwhile, Li-Mae continued to play well, with her holding the lead at the end of 30 clues.

Double Jeopardy! Round categories: History Paintings; Their Last Novel; Diseases; Some Legal “A”s; One-Named Oscar Winners; Adjectives

Ryan found another gear in this Double Jeopardy! round, as he got an amazing 17 correct responses! Buoyed by running the Oscar category, he also found both Daily Doubles—splitting them with a pair of $2,000 bets. Unfortunately, the first miss meant that he did not have a runaway at the end of the round! Ryan held the lead going into Final at $21,000, with Li-Mae at $12,000 and Toni at $6,000.

In another not-easy Final, Ryan picked up the only correct response and finished out the week as a 6-day champion! He’ll return on Monday in search of win #7—and contestants who won’t know that he didn’t bet to cover a couple of times. Things could get interesting!

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, May 20, 2022 Jeopardy! by the numbers:

Scores going into Final:
Ryan $21,000
Li-Mae $12,000
Toni $6,000

Tonight’s results:
Toni $6,000 – $1,006 = $4,994 (What is the Ural ???)
Li-Mae $12,000 – $12,000 = $0 (What is Lake Volga?)
Ryan $21,000 + $5,000 = $26,000 (What is Lake Baikal?) (6-day total: $131,801)

Ryan Long, today's Jeopardy! winner (for the May 20, 2022 game.)

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Li-Mae $5,200
Ryan $4,200
Toni $3,200

Opening break taken after: 15 clues

Daily Double locations:
1) SOUTH AMERICAN CITIES $600 (clue #8)
Toni 1600 -1600 (Ryan 0 Li-Mae 2000)
2) THEIR LAST NOVEL $1200 (clue #3)
Ryan 5000 -2000 (Li-Mae 5200 Toni 3600)
3) DISEASES $2000 (clue #18, $13200 left on board)
Ryan 13400 +2000 (Li-Mae 8000 Toni 2400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -125

Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 73 (0.41 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:
Ryan $23,000 Coryat, 24 correct, 2 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Toni $7,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 3 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Li-Mae $12,000 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $42,600
Lach Trash: $5,400 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,000

Ryan Long, career statistics:
142 correct, 18 incorrect
6/8 on rebound attempts (on 22 rebound opportunities)
40.18% in first on buzzer (137/341)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,000)
5/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,567

Li-Mae McClellan, career statistics:
15 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,000

Toni Alimi, career statistics:
14 correct, 4 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,600)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,600

Ryan Long, to win:
7 games: 64.088%
8: 41.073%
9: 26.323%
10: 16.870%
11: 10.811%
Avg. streak: 7.785 games.

Today’s interviews:
Toni met his wife in grad school, but only started dating afterwards.
Li-Mae was inspired by Ken Jennings to go to law school.
Ryan got to meet Obama in 2008 and had a failed selfie.

Andy’s Thoughts:

Final Jeopardy! betting suggestions:
(Scores: Ryan $21,000 Li-Mae $12,000 Toni $6,000)

Ryan: Standard cover bet today is $3,001. (Actual bet: $5,000)

Li-Mae: If you bet exactly $6,000, you can both maintain your dominant position over Toni and win with Ryan’s cover bet. (Actual bet: $12,000)

Toni: I would recommend any bet that isn’t $0 (as that loses to Li-Mae betting exactly $6,000) or everything (because Li-Mae might go all-in). (Actual bet: $1,006)


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