Note: This page contains spoilers for the August 14, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please also note that today’s game is an encore presentation of the game that originally aired on October 31, 2022.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Places in American History) for Monday, August 14, 2023 (Season 39, Game 36):
A Native American story says this creek got its name from an injury suffered by a Sioux warrior in a fight with the Crow
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Maureen O’Neil, an executive assistant from Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Megan Wachspress, an environmental attorney from Berkeley, California
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Ryan Long, a rideshare driver from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
This summer’s Encore Presentations continue with a reairing of this past fall’s Tournament of Champions. This tournament saw an expanded field of 21 players take part.
Today’s first quarterfinal is going to be between 16-day champion Ryan Long, 6-day champion Megan Wachspress, and 4-day champion Maureen O’Neil. While on the surface it looks like a favorable matchup for our Philadelphia rideshare driver, as I said in my Tournament of Champions preview back in October, “knowing what we know about Ryan’s and Megan’s respective Final Jeopardy! strategies, a contested Final Jeopardy! in this match is going to be one of the most intriguing betting situations in the entire history of the show.” Megan’s tendencies are well known—she won a number of her games by exactly $2 through her betting strategy, and any strategy is exploitable if you know about it. There were times when Ryan didn’t make the standard cover bet in his run, and it worked out well for him. Will he have enough confidence in his read to pull that move off again?
In case you missed it, my Weekly Thoughts column came out yesterday; in this week’s column I talk about both the start of Season 40 as well as this fall’s upcoming UK version.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Wounded Knee?
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.)
Wounded Knee Creek, in southwest South Dakota, was named because a skirmish between the Sioux and Crow tribes at that location resulted in a Sioux warrior being wounded in the knee. It is best known for the December 1890 Wounded Knee massacre, where nearly 300 Lakota people were murdered by the United States Army—astonishingly, twenty US Army soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for their participation in this massacre; American lawmakers currently are working slowly to investigate these awards with an eye to possibly rescinding them.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, August 14, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: You’re The Best Around; Streets Of America; Hobby Supplies; Conducting The Historic Job Interview; ’90s Films; From Ear To Fraternity)
There were definitely opening jitters: Megan rang in once, and led through 14 clues—Ryan retook the lead just before the first commercial break. Coming out of the break, all three players were much better in terms of correct responses; Megan picked up 5 correct to lead after thirty clues! “You’re The Best Around” was the biggest culprit with five combined incorrect responses and three Triple Stumpers in that category alone.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ryan 5 correct 3 incorrect
Megan 1 correct 0 incorrect
Maureen 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Maureen thinks her brothers have to live with her appearance for the rest of their lives.
Megan was gifted $2 bills from an uncle after her appearances.
Ryan got to go to Eagles training camp and got to hold the Lombardi Trophy.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Megan 6 correct 1 incorrect
Maureen 8 correct 1 incorrect
Ryan 8 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Megan $3,600
Maureen $2,800
Ryan $1,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Book Sequels; Five Chances; Television; This Category Is Confusing; Heavenly Bodies; A Parliament Of Vowels)
All three players held the lead at some point in Double Jeopardy; both Megan and Ryan got to Daily Doubles; unfortunately, they both dropped $2,000 on them. Megan led going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Megan 16 correct 4 incorrect
Maureen 14 correct 1 incorrect
Ryan 13 correct 6 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Megan $9,600
Maureen $8,400
Ryan $4,200
This will bust a LOT of brackets—Ryan and Maureen were the two players correct in Final Jeopardy, and that means Maureen, the 21st seed of 21 in this tournament, is advancing to the semi-finals!
Tonight’s results:
Ryan $4,200 + $4,200 = $8,400 (What is Wounded Knee?)
Maureen $8,400 + $8,399 = $16,799 (What is Wounded Knee?) (Semi-Finalist)
Megan $9,600 – $7,201 = $2,399 (What is Dakota?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) STREETS OF AMERICA $800 (clue #21)
Megan 1600 +1000 (Ryan 600 Maureen 200)
2) HEAVENLY BODIES $1600 (clue #17)
Megan 4800 -2000 (Ryan 7000 Maureen 6400)
3) A PARLIAMENT OF VOWELS $1600 (clue #29, $1200 left on board)
Ryan 6200 -2000 (Megan 9600 Maureen 8400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -11
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Ryan 2 3 4 2 3 4 5 2 2 3 4 5 3 5 1
Megan 1 1 4*
Maureen 5 4 5
DJ! Round:
Ryan 2 1 2 3 5 1 2 3 4*
Megan 4 1 2 3 4* 5† 2 1 3 1 1 2
Maureen 5 5 5 4 5 4 3 4
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Maureen 4.45
Ryan 2.96
Megan 2.33
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 8 (0.22 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Maureen $8,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Ryan $6,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 6 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Megan $11,400 Coryat, 16 correct, 4 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $26,000
Lach Trash: $14,800 (on 15 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $13,200
Player Statistics:
Ryan Long, career statistics:
419 correct, 70 incorrect
13/21 on rebound attempts (on 58 rebound opportunities)
41.86% in first on buzzer (427/1020)
14/23 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,000)
9/18 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,200
Megan Wachspress, career statistics:
128 correct, 36 incorrect
8/9 on rebound attempts (on 36 rebound opportunities)
31.35% in first on buzzer (142/453)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
5/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,575
Maureen O’Neil, career statistics:
88 correct, 16 incorrect
10/14 on rebound attempts (on 32 rebound opportunities)
25.77% in first on buzzer (84/326)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
4/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,333
Remaining players’ Tournament of Champions win chances (after 100,000 simulations):
Amy Schneider: 20.154%
Matt Amodio: 31.200%
Mattea Roach: 11.904%
Maureen O’Neil: 0.766%
Jonathan Fisher: 1.327%
Andrew He: 5.577%
Christine Whelchel: 0.493%
Brian Chang: 1.244%
Tyler Rhode: 1.138%
Margaret Shelton: 1.614%
Courtney Shah: 0.367%
Rowan Ward: 5.156%
John Focht: 2.907%
Eric Ahasic: 7.159%
Jaskaran Singh: 1.835%
Jackie Kelly: 3.134%
Zach Newkirk: 1.138%
Jessica Stephens: 0.440%
Sam Buttrey: 2.447%
Andy’s Thoughts:
- It’s clear that this tournament’s difficulty was ratcheted up — things could be very interesting!
- Full marks to Maureen for remembering the maxim to “STAY CLAM!” that was crucial to her victory today.
- Today’s box score: August 14, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Megan $9,600 Maureen $8,400 Ryan $4,200)
Ryan: Go all in, just in case Maureen bets very small. (Actual bet: $4,200)
Megan: Standard cover bet today is $7,201, though exactly $1,199 would be an interesting counter in case Maureen tries to go for the small range. (Actual bet: $7,201)
Maureen: I would bet at least $1 and no more than $2,399, just in case Ryan tries to play for a Triple Stumper. (Actual bet: $8,399)
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I’m gonna try and come up with something unique to say about each game in this tournament; unfortunately for the frequent summer commenters, you’re gonna be seeing at least one of me every single weekday for the next three weeks!
I might be remembering wrong, but I seem to recall someone mentioning a discussion with Michael Davies in which he said he strongly dislikes wild cards. I don’t really agree with that, and this is one of the main reasons why. On paper, Ryan is the strongest of the three players by a considerable margin – for example, his average Coryat was a little bit higher than Megan’s and Maureen’s combined. I think if you were to run this game ten or so times, he’d come out the obvious victor, or a very close second, nine of those times; however, in this specific game, he had the worst time on the… well, everything.
Among other things, I view wildcards as a bit of a safety net for strong players; that way, even if they end up just short of winning the game, their score will likely be high enough to give them a second chance in the semifinal. It doesn’t really make sense to me that a superb player could be defeated by a much weaker player and have no avenue of continuing. Unfortunately, it looks like Ryan wouldn’t have scored high enough to be one of the wildcards in this tournament, but I digress.
And I just noticed this – had Ryan been able to answer any one of his six negs in this game correctly, his career correct/incorrect response split would have sat at 420/69… oh well.
I also recall Davies mentioning his dislike of wild cards, most likely on an episode of Inside Jeopardy! early on in the season.
That position is reflected in subtle editorial changes made here. When Andy most recently updated the wildcard probabilities page just after the ToC, that addition included the following statement: “While I don’t know if there will ever be a tournament with wildcards again, it’s always good to be prepared.” [Emphasis in original.] Additionally, in late June, a link to that page was removed from the daily game recaps, among other things.
I was surprised that Ryan bet $2,000 on that DD in the category A PARLIAMENT OF VOWELS in which three answers had already been triple stumpers (with 2 of them even being the lowest level clues, while the DD was level 4). And indeed it turned out that NO ONE got ANY of the 5 levels of that category correct.
On the contrary, I was surprised that he didn’t bet more; even successfully converting that Daily Double would’ve left him $200 short of Maureen’s pre-Final total. Though at that point, he was likely completely mentally drained, so I suppose I can’t blame him too much.