Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 26, 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 Book Characters) for Tuesday, December 26, 2023 (Season 40, Game 77):
Early in a 1966 novel, this title character beats the protagonist in maze races; later on he bites him
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Myles Karp, a journalist & consultant from Weston, Florida
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Emily Kawaler, a bioinformatician from New York, New York
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Christopher Pennant, a sports journalist & announcer from Chicago, Illinois
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today begins Week 2 of the originally planned Season 40, with a second group of Second Chance returnees. Today’s returnees are Christopher Pennant, Emily Kawaler, and Myles Karp. Christopher definitely had the signaling device timing down in his first appearance, picking up 25 correct responses in his first appearance, but also had a lot of incorrect responses. He’ll need to drop that number to have a better chance today.
Today feels like a good day to remind everyone that we are on this path because of the writer’s strike from the summer of 2023. I’m not entirely sure what other options the show had, other than “delay the start of the season and show reruns until the the strike ended”, at which point everyone complaining about tournaments instead would have complained about reruns. It’s almost as though many people in America don’t care about organized labor.
Another reminder that I have started a Sunday mailbag column where I answer fan & viewer questions regarding the show. If you have a question, feel free to send it to mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Algernon?
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.)
While “Flowers for Algernon” originally began its life as a science fiction short story in the 1950s, author Daniel Keyes expanded the story into a 1966 novel. In that novel, protagonist Charlie, the first human set for intelligence-increasing surgery, is pitted against laboratory mouse Algernon, who has already received that surgery in testing. During the novel, Charlie realizes that the surgery will not ultimately succeed as Algernon regresses to his past state and dies. Charlie manages to publish the academic findings from the study before regressing himself.
The 1968 film Charly, which saw Cliff Robertson win the Oscar for Best Actor for playing the role of Charly Gordon, was also based upon the story.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, December 26, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Times: New Roman; Children’s Literature; Best Actress Oscar Winners; Homophonic Pairs; Forks, Knives, Spoons; Just “E”at It)
The opening segment saw Emily get off to the best start, with 7 of 15 correct responses before the interviews. However, an unsuccessful True Daily Double shortly after the break put Myles into the lead; Christopher worked himself into a tie for the lead with Myles by the end of the opening round.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Emily 7 correct 0 incorrect
Myles 3 correct 0 incorrect
Christopher 4 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Myles wants to report that his banana plant is thriving, even though bananas at large may still be in danger.
Emily wants to shout out the OQL’s “Four Horse Girls of the Apocalypse”.
Christopher got a lot more sleep before Second Chance.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Myles 7 correct 0 incorrect
Christopher 8 correct 1 incorrect
Emily 11 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Myles $3,600
Christopher $3,600
Emily $2,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Music Terms; TV Comedies By Workplace; Yellow Stone; Colleges & Universities; Literal National Names; Addend”um”)
The good news for Emily: She found the Daily Doubles immediately. The bad news for Emily: Her attempt to quadruple her score ended with an incorrect response on the second one, dropping her to $0 for a second time. She rebounded well, but couldn’t get back into the lead. As it was, Christopher held a $800 lead over Myles going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Christopher 17 correct 3 incorrect
Myles 12 correct 1 incorrect
Emily 23 correct 5 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Christopher $10,800
Myles $10,000
Emily $7,600
Christopher and Emily got Final correct; Christopher is now a finalist!
Tonight’s results:
Emily $7,600 + $3,300 = $10,900 (Who is Algernon? Hi Lauren <3)
Myles $10,000 – $5,201 = $4,799 (Who is Stuart)
Christopher $10,800 + $10,000 = $20,800 (Who is Algernon?) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BEST ACTRESS OSCAR WINNERS $800 (clue #17)
Emily 4800 -4800 (Christopher 1800 Myles 2000)
2) MUSIC TERMS $1600 (clue #1)
Emily 2200 +2200 (Christopher 3600 Myles 3600)
3) LITERAL NATIONAL NAMES $1200 (clue #2, $33200 left on board)
Emily 4400 -4400 (Christopher 3600 Myles 3600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Christopher 2 1 3 2 4
Emily 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 4*
Myles 3 5 4 2
DJ! Round:
Christopher
Emily 4* 3*
Myles
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Christopher 2.40
Emily 3.50
Myles 3.50
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Christopher $10,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 3 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Emily $16,200 Coryat, 23 correct, 5 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Myles $10,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 1 incorrect, 15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57), 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $37,000
Lach Trash: $7,000 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,000
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 6
Player Statistics:
Christopher Pennant, career statistics:
43 correct, 10 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
43.86% in first on buzzer (50/114)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,800
Emily Kawaler, career statistics:
43 correct, 8 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (42/114)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$4,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,100
Myles Karp, career statistics:
31 correct, 6 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
25.44% in first on buzzer (29/114)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,800)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,700
Andy’s Thoughts:
- This is the first recorded instance of Daily Doubles being found on the first two clues of Double Jeopardy since Hank D’Angelo did so on July 20, 1990. (Remember to cite your sources, folks, if putting this information elsewhere!)
- Today’s box score: December 26, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Christopher $10,800 Myles $10,000 Emily $7,600)
Christopher: Standard cover bet over Myles is $9,201. (Actual bet: $10,000)
Emily: The chances are very high that both Christopher and Myles are going to make cover bets. There’s no need to defend against $0 bets here, just limit your bet to $2,799 or less and play for a Triple Stumper. (Actual bet: $3,300)
Myles: Standard cover bet over Emily is $5,201. (Actual bet: $5,201)
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Remember reading it in school and did not see the end coming ’til Algernon starting regressing – thought it was going to be a happy ending. And after reading it, we saw the movie. So, yeah, I got this one right way.
I remembered the short story, didn’t know about the novel, but there were enough clue elements for me to get “Who is Algernon?” anyway.
I saw the movie when it first came out but couldn’t make the connection to today’s clue. There was some criticism of Cliff Robertson at the time for campaigning for the Oscar in a big way. Not that anyone would do that today.
I saw the movie as well and read the book of Flowers for Algernon so that helped with today’s final. So yeah I got this one right away. But really stuart from stuart little? No way.
With all due respect:
– maze race = lab mouse; Stuart Little = mouse.
Even so, any response at all is better than an empty screen.
Shaming contestants online for how they choose to respond in Final Jeopardy is inappropriate, leads to worse gameplay overall, and may result in a removal of one’s ability to comment if it continues.
If randomly choosing, the chance of getting the daily doubles on the first two picks is one in 435 (1 in 15 for the first, 1 in 29 for the second). So, it seems odd it took so long. But people don’t pick randomly, and 33 years ago people were more often than not starting with the lowest value clues which rarely had the daily doubles. Now that people are ‘searching’ for the daily doubles (and should increase the odds for it happening again), I don’t think that it will take another 33 years for it to happen.
Yay! Chicago won something. Thank You Christopher. He saw that the keywords in this Final Jeopardy lead to Algeron.
My thinkng that the correct response was Algeron, but was surprised that it was correct.
I know I’ve heard of “Flowers For Algeron,” thought I’d read it in high school, but didn’t recall the incidents described in the keywords. I’ll take the get.
It’s Algernon. 🙂
Maybe “Flowers For Algeron” was on your High School Reading List as an option rather than a requirement and you remember it from that. I, too, had definitely heard of the title but KNEW NOTHING about the book. In fact, in the back of my mind, I could have sworn it had something to do with WWI (or maybe WWII), either about soldiers or peasants in an area of conflict, but I HAVE NO IDEA what I must have gotten it confused with.
OK, I knew it was Algernon all along, but I did a cut/paste intending to correct it, then forgot to.
Well, that FJ got me. All I could think of Ratatouille. Knowing that wasn’t a name though. I have heard of Flowers for Algernon, but clearly never read it.
Fun game tonight and very competitive. I liked that Emily went for it on DD’s.
See what happens tomorrow night in Game 2 of Week 2 Second Chance.
You were doing better than I did. “Maze races” and “bites” did not make me think of mice. I was thinking along the lines of the hedge mazes in Britain.