Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 14, 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 Presidential Facts) for Wednesday, December 14, 2022 (Season 39, Game 68):
Only 3 presidents have married while in office— John Tyler was the first & he was the last
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Mollie Cowger, an assistant puzzles & games editor from San Francisco, California
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Dan Rosen, an accounting clerk from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Sean McShane, a non-profit membership associate originally from West Islip, New York (2-day total: $53,200)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
If this was 2012—the era where Sean McShane’s cousin Dan won his four games—I would suggest that Sean would be looking strong for a run between 5-10 games. And that still might happen. But the Jeopardy! of 2022 is unlike the Jeopardy! of 2012. So many more challengers today have been preparing for the possibility that the champion is as strong as—or even stronger than—Sean. Sean is a skilled player, but I’m worried that a challenger will take the Daily Doubles and use them to propel themselves to victory. Today’s challengers are Dan Rosen and Mollie Cowger.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is Woodrow Wilson?
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.)
The three U.S. Presidents who have married while in office are John Tyler (who married Julia Gardiner in 1844), Grover Cleveland (who married Frances Folsom in 1886; Cleveland had been Frances’ unofficial guardian, and this sort of relationship would be seen as immensely inappropriate today), and Woodrow Wilson (who married Edith Bolling Galt in 1915).
During Woodrow Wilson’s health issues at the end of his Presidential term, Edith took over many of her incapacitated husband’s duties. (This was well before the 25th Amendment.)
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historic Names; Animals In French; Who Lou?; Lights, Camera, Auction!; The Proof; In The Pudding)
As has often been the case in Sean’s game, the Daily Double hid itself until late. Unfortunately for Sean, most of his strong work was undone when he dropped $4,000 on it. Sean still led after 30, but it certainly wasn’t commanding.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Sean 9 correct 0 incorrect
Dan 4 correct 0 incorrect
Mollie 2 correct 0 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Sean 16 correct 1 incorrect
Dan 7 correct 0 incorrect
Mollie 5 correct 1 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Capital City Rivers; 8-Letter Crossword Clues; Instrumental Past; The Nonfiction Section; The “J.C.”s; 1982: A Year In Film)
Double Jeopardy! saw both challengers get to play a Daily Double—Dan gained $3,000, whereas Molly made a fearful wager on a bottom-row Daily Double and fell back slightly. It wasn’t a runaway, though, going into Final—Sean did lead at $23,000; Dan had $13,600 and Mollie $5,100.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Sean 31 correct 2 incorrect
Dan 14 correct 0 incorrect
Mollie 10 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 12 (0 today).
Sean was the only player correct in Final—he has now won more in 3 games than his cousin Dan did in 4 ($62,001). Sean will attempt to match Dan’s win total tomorrow!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, December 14, 2022 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Sean $23,000
Dan $13,600
Mollie $5,100
Tonight’s results:
Mollie $5,100 – $900 = $4,200 (Who is William Henry Harrison?)
Dan $13,600 – $7,000 = $6,600 (Who is Taylor?)
Sean $23,000 + $4,201 = $27,201 (Who is Wilson?) (3-day total: $80,401)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Sean $5,800
Dan $3,800
Mollie $2,200
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) IN THE PUDDING $800 (clue #25)
Sean 8600 -4000 (Dan 3600 Mollie 2000)
2) INSTRUMENTAL PAST $1200 (clue #2)
Dan 5000 +3000 (Sean 5800 Mollie 2200)
3) THE NONFICTION SECTION $2000 (clue #19, $12400 left on board)
Mollie 6600 -1500 (Sean 17400 Dan 11200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -9
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Sean 1 2 3 4 5 4 5 4 5 2 4 4 5 4*
Dan 1 2 3 1 5 2 2
Mollie 3 3 3 5
DJ! Round:
Sean 5† 2† 1 5 2 4 5 2
Dan 3* 4† 1† 2 1
Mollie 3 4 3 3 4 5*
† – selection in the same category as the first Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Sean 3.55
Dan 2.25
Mollie 3.60
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 12 (0.18 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Sean $27,000 Coryat, 31 correct, 2 incorrect, 54.39% in first on buzzer (31/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Dan $11,800 Coryat, 14 correct, 0 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Mollie $6,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $45,400
Lach Trash: $4,200 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,400
Sean McShane, career statistics:
88 correct, 8 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
50.29% in first on buzzer (86/171)
3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,000)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $24,733
Dan Rosen, career statistics:
14 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,800
Mollie Cowger, career statistics:
10 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,500)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,600
Sean McShane, to win:
4 games: 82.348%
5: 67.812%
6: 55.842%
7: 45.985%
8: 37.867%
Avg. streak: 7.665 games.
Today’s interviews:
Mollie has been doing crosswords since middle school.
Dan tutors students studying for their bar mitzvahs.
Sean is cousins with Dan McShane.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- It took me way too long today to realize that WHO LOU? was a Hulu reference.
- Today’s box score: December 14, 2022 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Sean $23,000 Dan $13,600 Mollie $5,100)
Sean: Standard cover bet over Dan is $4,201. Don’t bet more—enough trailers don’t bet enough and you don’t want to let them get away with their mistake. (Actual bet: $4,201)
Dan: If Sean covers and is incorrect, he falls to $18,799. Bet at least $5,201. (Actual bet: $7,000)
Mollie: Bet whatever you like, but do remember that your chances of second place are likely better the more money you have left at the end.(Actual bet: $900)
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I went with Cleveland knowing his story. I didn’t know about Wilson. The widow Cleveland is also a frequent answer to the trivia question of who is the only presidential widow to remarry besides Jackie Kennedy.
Ugh… I’m terrible with this type of trivia, and I’m already weak with remembering the basic stuff about presidents ;p
Current FJ streak: 1L
Who tf is Woodrow Wilson
Current FJ streak: 3L
I have a good feeling about Sean. I think he may continue for awhile.
Dan’s winnings total of $62,001, adjusted for inflation from January 2012 (the month when his regular games aired), becomes $81,435; thus, in real terms, Sean hasn’t passed his cousin.
( Calculation: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=62001&year1=201201&year2=202211 )
Thanks for sharing that! I’ve been playing with my salary at various points in time. Maybe time for the show to increase payouts, it’s been roughly 20 years. With the recent run of super champions, they’re probably not inclined to pay more, but the consolation prizes are worth a look.
I do wish the consolation payouts were higher, given what contestants need to invest in money and time to appear and be competitive on the show. Maybe this is a completely unworkable idea, but it would be nice if non-champs were guaranteed a percentage of pre-FJ winnings. It wouldn’t disincentivize betting to win in final, and it would reward strong pre-FJ performances.
That’s true, but to me the true measure of their success is how much they were able to collect off the board with clue selection, correct responses and betting, not how much those winnings could buy. So in comparing one’s winnings from an earlier year (especially only after the amounts on the board were increased) to another’s winnings now, I feel like they may as well have been playing for matchsticks [like practice poker games] as far as being no reason to adjust for inflation goes. I guess another way of saying it is that the money is nice to get but for me the congratulations and the comparisons should be “math based” not financially based.
Yes, I have to agree with you, Lisa. Since the values on the board were the same for the two cousins in their respective games, it is fair to compare them straight up and not in terms of inflationary value. To me, until the players receive their checks, I think of the numbers in terms of points. Sean had more points in three games than Dan had in four games.
using those inflation adjustments, here are the adjusted winnings totals for the 3 from the GoaT tournament:
Ken:
regular game winnings: $3,929,006
all-time winnings: $6,292,813
Brad:
all-time winnings: $7,198,681
James:
regular game winnings: $2,861,795
all-time winnings: $3,439,675
Sean certainly played well today. I know of a bridge in Virginia that is named after Woodrow Wilson which spans the Potomac River on the Maryland-Virginia line There are also several middle and high schools named after him as well.
The “Who Lou?” category made me think of you!
But, Andy, before seeing any clues, my next thought was ‘Hulu?’.
Looking at Mollie’s final jeopardy answer (which was moot at that point), a suggestion to those out of there who may make it on to Jeopardy! If you have no clue on a presidential question of having done something rare during the presidency, choosing the president who was only president for 30 days may not be the best strategy. 🙂
LOL, but I can never remember WHO it was with such a short presidency, just that there was one. If a person doesn’t know the specified presidential clue, than they are probably highly likely not to know the 30-day fact either.
Some presidential facts, I know, some I don’t know, and some I just kind of know. Today was the latter, I said Grover Cleveland.
Another example is that my knowing that Gerald Ford played football often helps me with a trivia question about him, but fairly recently there was one pertaining to the football past of a president and it wasn’t Ford they were referring to — I think that one was Eisenhower. [I was pretty sure it wan’t Ford because he was ‘Michigan’ and this was some other state, but if I had had to respond I would have gone with Ford since perhaps his past was wider than just Michigan. And also because so much has always been made over Ford being a football player that it had made me think that was a first. I guess it was actually because he was the only one recruited by NFL teams.]
Eisenhower played for Army, including a famous game against Jim Thorpe. Would’ve been about 20 years before Ford’s career.
I knew this one thanks to the different books I read about presidents when I was growing up. We have the Wilson bridge that spans the Potomac River in the DC area and there’s a high school named after him in DC. I think people are trying to get the names changed.
Tough DDs today. It’s probably just ordinary variance, but it seems like they’ve been trending a little tougher recently.
good. I hope they do make the DD clues tougher, and I would like to see more variance in where they are placed on the board to make them more unpredictable.
I didn’t really like this Final because it was an “either you know it or you don’t” kind of all-in question. There wasn’t a way to logic it together otherwise, since John Tyler only eliminates a small portion. I guessed that Cleveland was the second and that since such a thing did not happen during my lifetime, it had to be early 1900s. I think having “Silent Cal” Coolidge in my brain from last week got me to say him. Whoops.
Mollie was the best at trying to hunt Daily Doubles, but struggled with her dexterity on the buzzer. Sean has great timing on that – something I’m sure his cousin helped him with – and that’s why he’s doing so well despite the very conservative approach.