Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 18, 2022, 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 English Cities) for Friday, November 18, 2022 (Season 39, Game 50):
William the Conqueror’s son built a fortress on a key Northern river in 1080, giving this city its name
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Sam Buttrey, an associate professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School from Pacific Grove, California (0 wins)
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Andrew He, a software developer from San Francisco, California (2 wins)
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Amy Schneider, a writer from Oakland, California (2 wins)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today is the day for Game 5 of the final of the 30th Tournament of Champions. For the second game in a row, the tournament could end today. However, there are now two players on the cusp of victory: Amy Schneider and Andrew He both have two wins apiece. Today is now a must-win game for Sam Buttrey; the tournament ends today if Sam is not the victor. (If Sam is the victor today, the tournament extends to Monday.)
One thing that has happened over the past couple of games is that Sam and Amy have done a much better job of keeping the Daily Doubles away from Andrew, and that has certainly increased their chances of winning individual games.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is Newcastle? (Newcastle upon Tyne)
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.)
In 1080, William the Conqueror sent Robert Curthose, his eldest son, to the area near the Tyne River to build fortifications against the Scots. A “new castle” was built, leading to the town being named Newcastle. For centuries, it served as the northern fortification of England. The British offshoot of Jersey Shore, Geordie Shore, has been set in the Newcastle area for its entire run.
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: U.S. Cities; Furniture; 5-Syllable Words; Tv Dramas By Episode Titles; The “Anti” Category; The Neanderthals)
It was a slow start for all three of our players; Sam gave 3 incorrect responses in the first six clues and Amy missed the Daily Double. Things turned around, though, by the end of 30, with Amy holding a lead of triple Andrew’s score!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Amy 4 correct 1 incorrect
Andrew 3 correct 0 incorrect
Sam 3 correct 3 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Amy 11 correct 1 incorrect
Andrew 7 correct 0 incorrect
Sam 7 correct 3 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historic Castles; Band Ad; Paint Samples; American Women; 20Th Century Fiction; Before, During & After)
Andrew got to both Daily Doubles on successive clues! Unfortunately, he went all-in on both of them, and missed the second, falling back down to $0. Meanwhile, Amy played well enough to hold a lead going into Final! Scores going into Final were Amy at $15,800, Sam at $11,200, and Andrew at $6,800.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Amy 22 correct 1 incorrect
Sam 14 correct 3 incorrect
Andrew 15 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 12 (0 today).
Amy and Sam got this Final correct—but for the second day in a row, Amy didn’t make a cover bet. This one came back to bite her, as Sam doubled up, and this means Sam now has a win, and the tournament continues until Monday!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, November 18, 2022 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Amy $15,800
Sam $11,200
Andrew $6,800
Tonight’s results:
Andrew $6,800 – $6,700 = $100 (What is Avon?) (2 wins)
Sam $11,200 + $11,200 = $22,400 (What is Newcastle Upon Tyne?) (1 win)
Amy $15,800 + $1,800 = $17,600 (What is Newcastle?) (2 wins)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Amy $6,600
Andrew $2,200
Sam $1,600
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) FURNITURE $600 (clue #4)
Amy 1000 -1000 (Andrew 200 Sam -1000)
2) 20th CENTURY FICTION $1600 (clue #9)
Andrew 5000 +5000 (Amy 8600 Sam 6000)
3) PAINT SAMPLES $1200 (clue #10, $22400 left on board)
Andrew 10000 -10000 (Amy 8600 Sam 6000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Amy 1 2 3*
Andrew 5
Sam
DJ! Round:
Amy 2 2 2
Andrew 5 4* 3*
Sam 3 4 5 4
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Sam 4.00
Amy 2.00
Andrew 4.25
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 12 (0.24 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Sam $11,200 Coryat, 14 correct, 3 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Amy $16,800 Coryat, 22 correct, 1 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Andrew $13,400 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,400
Lach Trash: $7,200 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,400
Amy Schneider, career statistics:
1485 correct, 98 incorrect
70/86 on rebound attempts (on 186 rebound opportunities)
50.15% in first on buzzer (1367/2726)
70/82 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $217,200)
31/48 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $25,167
Andrew He, career statistics:
280 correct, 40 incorrect
15/17 on rebound attempts (on 44 rebound opportunities)
35.76% in first on buzzer (265/741)
19/25 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $84,400)
4/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,754
Sam Buttrey, career statistics:
244 correct, 27 incorrect
12/14 on rebound attempts (on 38 rebound opportunities)
37.96% in first on buzzer (238/627)
6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
6/11 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,891
Remaining Players’ Tournament of Champions Chances (after 100,000 Simulations)
Amy 47.833%
Andrew 46.068%
Sam 6.099%
Chances of 6 games: 75.006%
Chances of 7 games: 24.994%
Today’s interviews:
Sam was visiting Venice in the middle of the big 2019 flood.
Andrew is looking forward to hitting up Koreatown with Margaret Shelton.
Amy is getting to show off her Ozma tattoo.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- This format has certainly turned the wagering strategies on their head; Amy keeps betting not to lose to Andrew, and in doing so is losing to Sam.
- That being said, Amy’s betting to ensure Andrew doesn’t win today basically gave her a chance to end the tournament today, but also giving her another chance to win Monday (or Tuesday) if it doesn’t work.
- Moreover, this gambit may end up pushing Sam—or even Andrew—into a sub-optimal strategy later that could work against them if either Game 6 or Game 7 has an incredibly difficult Final Jeopardy.
- Today’s box score: November 18, 2022 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Amy $15,800 Sam $11,200 Andrew $6,800)
Amy: Standard cover bet over Sam is $6,601—I suggest covering, because Sam’s in Stratton’s Dilemma and he has occasion to go all in. (Actual bet: $1,800)
Andrew: Go all in, because the only way you can win is if you’re right and Amy isn’t. (Actual bet: $6,700)
Sam: You’re in Stratton’s Dilemma—you can’t both cover Andrew and win a Double Stumper with Amy. Because Andrew needs to go all in, you need to cover. Therefore, you should probably consider going all in yourself, even moreso because Amy has shown a propensity not to cover. (Actual bet: $11,200)
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Woo! Newcastle upon Tyne is near the Eastern end of Hadrian’s Wall. Knowing a bit about the Roman occupation helped, as William’s son used the site of the old Roman fort for his castle.
Newcastle was the first city that came to mind.
I’m guessing this could be a triple get, meaning that the all-important lead going into FJ! could be what clinches the tournament tonight, unless the leader is Sam.
To your point, Andy, about Sam and Amy keeping DDs away from Andrew. It doesn’t seem like they have changed their strategy, but have just done better controlling the board, not giving Andrew a chance. With DDs still out, they still go to places where a DD is not likely to be; the top row, quirky categories like Jeoportmanteau, and clues delivered by a celebrity guest. There is a element of predictability in DD placement. History is a category Jeopardy likes a lot. Three of the DDs this week have been in a category with “History” in the title. Andrew seems to be the only one making a beeline for such categories. The word “Historic” is in a DJ category tonight. It may not have a DD, but history shows it is a good place to go searching for one, if that is your intent.
On the contrary—Amy and Sam haven’t gone to the top row before the Daily Doubles have been found in Double Jeopardy since Game 2.
For the DJ round, another place where a DD will not be found is in the same category where the first one was. Curiously, though, contestants this week have gone back to that category with the second DD still on the board. Someone who was aggressively seeking DDs wouldn’t do that.
Yes. Both Amy and Sam did this last night. They stuck with a category after the DD was found there, even though the second DD was still out somewhere.
With this being the end of trans awareness week, how appropriate would it be for Amy to win it today. Good luck to them all.
The last time the idea of a triple get was said, not all got the correct response. Nonetheless it would be great to see Sam win at least one game.
Man I just assumed the tournament would conveniently end on a Friday. As Andrew gestured to Sam at the end of the game I hope Andrew sends Sam a huge gift basket if Andrew wins the tournament 🙂
Was like on day 4 of the GOAT tournament, Brad found a daily double and turned to Ken and said “You are welcome.” James was chasing to keep the tournament going and would have been helped by the daily double. Though James ultimately had enough to win the day but got the second FJ wrong.
Happy to see Sam win. He has played well in the tournament. Would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he searched for Daily Doubles and bet big from the beginning (same with Amy).
Interesting to see the cumulative stats. In just 2 more games played, Andrew has found 25 daily doubles compared to Sam’s 8 (Andrew has gotten 19 of those right earning $84,400 and Sam has gotten 6 right and earned $10,600). And Andrew has struggled with Final Jeopardy (4 of 13 right). Sam has 2 more FJ right with 2 fewer games.
Would love to see Sam win Monday. Then Tuesday is a winner take all game. And would love to see that come down to FJ. Maybe too much to wish for (though its odd thinking the chances of that are already certain just not known to us).
So happy to see Sam win! I would like to see him win it all.
Happy to see Sam winning today. I would love to see him trying to get a daily double hopefully next week. Newcastle came to me after I saw the clue with william the conqueror. Anything can happen next week as long as any Amy can make a comeback
No triple get BUT Sam won…good for him as I am rooting for him. Now all he has to do is to win the next two games. Now that will be tough!! Go Sam Go!!!
Fingers crossed for Sam
It’s surprising Amy is playing defensively and not to lose, hoping Sam or Andrew make the mistakes. This is not a winning strategy at this level.
As I mentioned recently, my favorite aspect of Jeopardy! is the demonstration of knowledge rather than strategy or betting (which I guess is a part of strategy) so my favorite to win is Amy primarily because of having the lowest career error rate, only 6.2%. It seems long-term regular champions usually (during their streaks) have error rates under 7.5% and very few over 10%, but Sam is sitting at exactly 10% and Andrew at 12.5%! However, Andrew is being fairly consistent as his error rate JUST during these 5 ToC games is 12.1% but Sam’s error rate has increased to 12.4% and Amy’s has increased, too, though to just 7.15% for these 5 games. [By contrast Mattea’s career error rate was 8.9% and Matt’s 9.2%, so obviously one cannot count on that for winning, but one can still use it to pick favorites 😀.]
So, anyway, Amy’s strategy may contain a component of expectation that she can get more responses correct than her opponents can, but those statistics include low-value clues as well has high-value ones and each past Daily Double only accounted for one correct or one incorrect but may have accounted for a very large amount added or subtracted.
I think it’ll be interesting to see how Amy’s confidence affects her on Monday, playing that game knowing she could have won the entire tournament if she wagered just $4,801 more.
I really hope it doesn’t, because I really like Amy, but if it does happen, so be it, I suppose.
You’re right about the betting strategy, Andy. When Andrew got the second Daily Double wrong, I was thinking he shouldn’t be buzzing in anymore, so that Sam could try and overtake Amy. But perhaps his getting to $6,800 forced Amy into the smaller bet in Final.
Not being a fan of game theory I sometimes get confused with wagering strategies. However, the comments from Andy and others here have shown me just how vital proper wagering is; especially in Final Jeopardy. It seems the TOC would already be over if Amy (or even Sam) had made optimal wagers in Final J. Do I have that right? Can someone explain if I have this right? Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.
I would say “standard cover bet” instead of “optimal”; the idea of “optimal” may be different in this sort of situation vs. a normal game where your run ends as soon as you lose. In today’s case, Amy was protecting against the possibility that Andrew would be the only player correct in Final—had Amy covered Sam and Andrew been the only player correct, the tournament would be over with Andrew winning. Thus, from an overall tournament perspective, there is less risk than usual in not making a cover bet, especially if it keeps a player with two wins from having any chance of getting a third, as the tournament still continues if Final Jeopardy! breaks the wrong way for you.
Rooting for Sam to win. Love him! Funny, smart, kind, and of course, the 2nd handsomest man in the world.
tbh, I’m not sure if Andrew has the endurance or stamina to win another game. I think Amy’s going to bring it home.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, although Andrew’s miss of the second DD in DJ seemed disastrous at the time, it probably benefited him in the end. If he had been successful on that DD and everything else went the same after that, he would have ended the round with $26,800, forcing Amy to bet big on FJ to try to overtake him. Then when Andrew missed on FJ, Amy would have passed him and won the TOC. Strange how things work out.
Love this take.
Super insight! Thank you for pointing this out
Just goes to show how big a part chance still plays, even in this game of knowledge and strategy.
I’m sure it’s nerve-wracking to the contestants, but what a great week this has been for the viewers. The decision to go with the 3-win format in the Finals has certainly been validated. Whoever wins is truly going to be a worthy champion.
I agree. I hope they stick with this format for subsequent ToCs. I would even like it for all the tournaments, but for non-ToC tournaments (like teen tournaments and college tournaments), I’m guessing that the assumption would be that there would not be enough viewer interest (thus ratings) to sustain those tournaments longer.
The final Jeopardy question was easy! Newcastle-upon-Tyne (to give it’s correct name) is also my home city in the UK, and I’m very proud to be from there! It’s a historic city and the whole area is very historic. I was actually raised in Wallsend….four miles down river from Newcastle and the actual site of the end of Hadrian’s Wall! I was happy to see Sam get a win.
What was the taping schedule for the semi-finals and finals?
Usually they tape 5 shows per day but they taped all 6 quarterfinals plus the exhibition game in one day. (Possibly the reason that the exhibition game saw Ken making at least one mistake.)
I only ask because I think a long taping day affects some contestants.
The semifinals + the first two games of the finals were taped on the same day, with games three through to the end of the tournament taped on the following day.
Andy;
Am I right in understanding that the normal taping schedule is 5 games in one session, two sessions a week? I think that was mentioned in the Jeopardy special, a couple of years back. Where it had Alex coming in the morning, going over his mail, reviewing game boards for understanding, and, correct prononciation. Then doing the same with the writers, and, producers. I presume that Ken, and, Mayim follow a similar schedule.
Bill:
Yes; however, the show, presumably because of the schedule of the host(s), has done a number of three-tape-day weeks this season.
So happy to see Sam win a game. He is so personable! But I think Amy will bring it home on Monday.
It did sound like the in-studio audience was very, very happy with the winner of today’s game.
I’m sure they were glad to see the great games continue, as well as being glad for Sam.
I was a little surprised that Final was centered on the word “castle” when there had been a category about castles in the game. I had the correct answer (which I haven’t done much during the TOC), but the earlier category made me question it.
There’s the Jeopardy luck factor I was was talking about. It was luck that only Amy and Sam had the correct response; luck that Amy decided not to cover Sam going all in; and luck that I got two of the Triple Stumpers but not the Final. And so it goes . . .
And was the Final an intentional or coincidental extension of the Historic Castles category?
The high difficultly level of previous FJs in the finals might also have affected Amy’s choice of wager.
Sounds likely, especially since she had not got one right yet! [I mean not prior to having to make a FJ bet for this game. She was 0 for 4 in ToC prior to getting this one correct.]
Amy accomplished her primary goal of not letting Andrew win outright, if he had answered FJ! correctly. She’s proved herself to be more astute with her bets than many people give her credit for.
I’m so happy to see Sam win tonight. Bring it!
Sam is just a joy to watch, simply delightful. Glad to see him get a win today, hope he pulls out another on Monday!
Why didn’t Amy cover Sam??
As was explained in the post above, she felt it more important to prevent a situation where Andrew wins the tournament outright. After all, Sam winning last night doesn’t end the tournament.
Amy’s bet was the correct one: her first priority is that Andrew not win the championship. Better to gamble that Sam doesn’t answer correctly and she wins it all with her small bet than allowing Andrew to win with an incorrect bet/wrong answer.
Amy’s first priority is to win the championship not that Andrew fails to win it. Amy did get at least 1 FJ correct prior to Game 5.
And Amy felt her best overall chance at winning the championship came with the bet that she made. Just because it’s not the bet you would have made doesn’t make her strategy incorrect. Even the hardest of hardline wagering strategists on JBoard are even saying her strategy has some validity to it.
“Some validity”? That’s a huge understatement! Now I understand her strategy, it was clearly the best option she had at the time. She ensured that no one, other than her, could possibly have won the tournament at the end of that game.
Even though I knew Sam was going to win (thank you JeoopardyFan) I was surely elated watching him do it! Glad no one in the house was sleeping, lol. Enthralling to say the least.