Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 9, 2023, 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 USA) for Monday, January 9, 2023 (Season 39, Game 86):
Ironically, though this company founded in the 1860s is Moore County, Tennessee’s largest employer, Moore is a dry county
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Connor Sears, a copy editor from Queens, New York
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Kelly Mraz, a music teacher from Lilburn, Georgia
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Patrick Curran, a consultant from Washington, D.C. (2-day total: $45,400)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
After an overnight rest in the taping scheduling and a weekend’s rest in the airing schedule, Patrick Curran returns to defend a 2-day championship on Jeopardy! against Kelly Mraz and Connor Sears.
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(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is Jack Daniel’s?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Lynchburg, Tennessee—in the famously dry Moore County—is the world-famous home of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee sour mash whiskey. Its famous black bottles say “Every drop made in Lynchburg Tennessee” and “Quality and Craftsmanship since 1866” on them. Even though the 21st Amendment removed prohibition federally, it still permitted prohibition at state or local levels. Sampling at the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Moore County is permitted, even though the rest of the county does not permit the sale of alcohol.
Interestingly, there is some debate about how correct the “1866” date is on Jack Daniel’s bottles; apparently, Mr. Daniel did not register his business until 1875. (Granted, if you were distilling back then, you might have wanted to make sure you were going to be viable before registering, but who really knows?). Besides, who’s really going to dispute an actual bottle of Jack Daniel’s?
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Game Recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Species In Peril; Their Main Musical Instrument; Runs “Hot” & “Cold”; Laundry Day; Whites & Colors; Delegates)
Connor got out to a strong start, but it was Patrick who led after 15 and 30 clues, thanks to going all in on a Daily Double right before the first break!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Patrick 5 correct 0 incorrect
Connor 7 correct 0 incorrect
Kelly 3 correct 0 incorrect
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Patrick 10 correct 0 incorrect
Connor 12 correct 1 incorrect
Kelly 7 correct 1 incorrect
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Won The Battle, Lost The War; All The Right Movies; Buildings & Bridges; Random Facts; Solve The Mystery Title; Remember Your Phrase-Ing)
Kelly had a strong start to Double Jeopardy! and did hold the lead at one point, relegating Connor to third place! However—once again proving the importance of the Daily Doubles—Conn picked up a combined $12,600 on the pair of them to not only take the lead, but vault into a runaway position which he held until the end of the round! Scores going into Final were Connor at $27,800, Patrick at $12,600, and Kelly at $8,200.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Connor 21 correct 3 incorrect
Patrick 17 correct 3 incorrect
Kelly 12 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 12 (0 today).
Final Jeopardy! today was a triple get—Connor Sears is your new champion, returning tomorrow to defend!
Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, January 9, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers:
Scores going into Final:
Connor $27,800
Patrick $12,600
Kelly $8,200
Tonight’s results:
Kelly $8,200 + $8,200 = $16,400 (What is Jack Daniels?)
Patrick $12,600 + $3,801 = $16,401 (What is Jack Daniels)
Connor $27,800 + $200 = $28,000 (What is Jack Daniels?) (1-day total: $28,000)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Patrick $8,200
Connor $5,600
Kelly $3,800
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) DELEGATES $1000 (clue #15)
Patrick 3200 +3200 (Kelly 2200 Connor 4000)
2) REMEMBER YOUR PHRASE-ING $800 (clue #13)
Connor 9600 +5600 (Patrick 11400 Kelly 9000)
3) BUILDINGS & BRIDGES $1200 (clue #21, $7600 left on board)
Connor 18800 +7000 (Patrick 11800 Kelly 9000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 196
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Patrick 3 4 4 4 5*
Kelly 3 2 2
Connor 5 5 3 2 1 5 4
DJ! Round:
Patrick 3 4 3 4 5
Kelly 3 4 5 2 1 1
Connor 5 4 3 2* 1† 4 4 5 5 3*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Connor 3.59
Patrick 3.90
Kelly 2.56
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 12 (0.14 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Connor $17,200 Coryat, 21 correct, 3 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Patrick $10,400 Coryat, 17 correct, 3 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Kelly $8,200 Coryat, 12 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,800
Lach Trash: $11,200 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,000
Patrick Curran, career statistics:
68 correct, 9 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (63/171)
5/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $18,800)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,667
Kelly Mraz, career statistics:
13 correct, 3 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,200
Connor Sears, career statistics:
22 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $12,600)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,200
Connor Sears, to win:
2 games: 80.127%
3: 64.203%
4: 51.444%
5: 41.220%
6: 33.028%
Avg. streak: 5.032 games.
Today’s interviews:
Connor sings with a choir that got to sing in a commercial for a German hardware store.
Kelly has convinced her students that she is fluent in 25 languages.
Patrick is a Cowboys fan, but his father was a Bills fan.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: January 9, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Connor $27,800 Patrick $12,600 Kelly $8,200)
Patrick: Standard cover bet over Kelly for second place is $3,801. (Actual bet: $3,801)
Kelly: Bet at least $600 to get second if Patrick makes the minimum cover bet, you are correct in Final, and he is not. (Actual bet: $8,200)
Connor: Limit your bet to $2,599 and enjoy the victory! (Actual bet: $200)
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If you’re not familiar with your potent potables, I suspect a contestant could be easily torn between answering Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. An easy way to remember, Beam starts with B, as does Bourbon, as in Bourbon County, KY. Back in the day, a distillery had to be located within the bounds of Bourbon County, KY to be called “Bourbon” whiskey. Similar to the use of the term Champagne, which must come from the Champagne region of France. That’s why we call the similar products made here in California “sparkling wine.”
That is so cool. Thanks.
When I was much younger and still drinking, Jim Beam was always my choice over Jack’s.
You were right to say “back in the day” about when whiskey can be called bourbon because that is not currently true, though according to the ‘Louisville Courier-Journal’ MANY people (even bartenders) still think only bourbon made in Kentucky can be called bourbon. However, per Tennessee state law only whiskeys [of certain strict requirements] distilled in Tennessee can be called “Tennessee whiskey”, so knowing that could be why people assume the Kentucky bourbon rule.
I guess there are other well known Tennessee liquors but I couldn’t name any of them🤷
Yep, ‘George Dickel’ (my favorite) is made in Tullahoma, TN.
Think I’ll have a Lynchburg Lemonade to celebrate being 1 for 1 so far this week on final jeopardy clues.
It could just be me, but this clue feels a bit clunky with its wording. I got tricked into thinking that Moore County was the name of Tennessee’s largest employer. Though I wouldn’t have gotten it anyway, even if the clue’s wording was improved, I’m sure at least one other person will probably fall into the same trap as I did.
I think phrasing it as “Ironically, though this company founded in the 1860’s is the largest employer in Moore County, Tennessee, Moore is a dry county” would make it a bit clearer. But again, that’s just me.
Not only that but this is one of those useless categories which are almost running gags on the show. USA…really narrows it down for you.
If I had to guess, the number of people who’ll be able to successfully blind guess this will probably be 1 or 2.
I don’t know…I always thought it was well known that Jack Daniels was ironically in a dry county (though, I only knew the name of the city, not the county), so a triple get would not surprise me.
Among other problems, the clue is short on commas, imo. That said, I got this one, thanks to long-ago college misadventures. 🥂
Easy question but clumsy wording for sure.
I’ve noticed that more and more and not just on Final clues. I wish I could remember the example but during Ray Lalonde’s run, there was a clue that nobody buzzed in on because it didn’t make sense. They all looked puzzled. And then Ken sort of mocked them when he gave the correct question. (He used Alex’s phrasing and tone too. “It’s just the…”)
The clue was more awkward than some, but because the key word is [almost always] “this”, it didn’t take long to realize they were NOT saying that ‘Moore County’ was the name of Tennessee’s largest employer. Your version might possibly fall into the “too long” situation [as it was 6 characters longer than theirs].
What do you think of my version, “Ironically, though Moore County, Tennessee is a dry county, this company founded in the 1860’s is its largest employer” which is 3 characters shorter than theirs? IMHO Jeopardy! deliberately made the clue more awkward than necessary because the “answer” would be pretty well known.
To be fair, the clue the clue seemed perfectly clear when read by Ken (without a pause between “Moore County” and “Tennessee”).
Agreed. However, anyone would have to think the state of Tennessee is even more podunk than it is if they think the largest employer in the state is some company [Moore County] no one has ever heard of.
However, I still say that the clue is clear because if you read “this” as essentially being part of “this company is Moore County” then you are not left with an ‘answer’ to which you can form a ‘question’. And Ken does read it (with appropriate pauses and inflection) BEFORE the music even starts, right? So the main confusion is just to people who have no access to SEEING the show (only to reading the FJ somewhere), right?
I should have gotten this correct, as my mom’s choice of alcohol was always a Jack Daniel’s bottle. It’s been while since I read a bottle.
In my family my brother will sometimes buy jack daniels whenever we have a party to invite our neighbors over for dinner. Still I am happy everyone got this final right. Although I haven’t drank this sort of wine in a while I guess my dad likes it a lot so that’s not saying much.
Went with the wrong southern alcohol! I said moonshine…
I had no idea whatsoever. This is where not drinking alcohol (NyQuil aside, I can count the times I’ve had adult beverages on my hands) comes back to haunt me. It took me ten seconds to realize it was talking about booze and not oil or spring water… and from there I had no clue. Very tough clue for a non-drinker.
Was reading it here before on tv and soon as saw the clue, knew was Jack Daniels but now looking at it closely, I could see it confusing on the wording but is correct if read without a pause between Moore County, Tennessee’s makes perfect sense.
I wonder if “Flavor of the Week” would have been acceptable instead of “Flavor of the Month”
I almost ran the category “All the Right Movies.” But unfotunatley had the wrong brand of Whiskey, said Jim Beam instead of Jack Daniels. I do remember reading someplace that Jack Daniels was located in an otherwise “dry” location. Too bad that memory didn’t come foward when I answered this game’s Final Jeopardy.