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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 26, 2024, 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 Leading Ladies: Next In Line) for Friday, January 26, 2024 (Season 40, Game 100):
Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, her
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Ittai Sopher, a news producer & journalist from New Orleans, Louisiana
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Michael Menkhus, a data analyst from Kansas City, Missouri
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Tamara Ghattas, an editor from Chicago, Illinois
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today is Quarterfinal #9 of Group 1 of Winter 2024 Champions Wildcard, between Tamara Ghattas, Michael Menkhus, and Ittai Sopher. Both Michael and Ittai are 2-game champions in this one—I think a lot of people are picking Michael due to strong statistics, but we play these games for a reason: a lot of viewer predictions have been incorrect!
While I’m hoping that the semifinal pairings will be released on the Jeopardy! website at 8 PM Pacific, once tonight’s game has had a chance to air everywhere, I’m also mentally preparing for the fact that we won’t see those pairings until Monday morning.
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(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Lady Gaga?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, and Lady Gaga have been the four female leads in the four official versions of A Star Is Born, released in 1937, 1954, 1976, and 2018. Those four versions have been nominated for a combined 25 Oscars (winning for Best Story in 1937 and Best Original Song in 1976 and 2018.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, January 26, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Touch Some Grass; “C” In The Middle; That’s Just Tearable!; Full-Court Press; 2-3 Zone; Coaching Basketball)
Michael got off to the best start in this one, with a True Daily Double and five other correct responses to have a healthy lead after 15 clues. Michael ended up with 15 correct overall in the round and as much money as both Tamara and Ittai combined through 30 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Michael 6 correct 0 incorrect
Ittai 5 correct 0 incorrect
Tamara 3 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Ittai got much more involved in the trivia community after his games.
Michael is happy to be able to bring his now-fiancée to the audience this time.
Tamara was very impressed with how her kids behaved in the audience last time.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Michael 15 correct 1 incorrect
Tamara 7 correct 1 incorrect
Ittai 6 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Michael $8,000
Tamara $5,000
Ittai $3,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historic Battles; Dashiell Hammett; Gas Everywhere; What’s In A Name; The TV Spin-Off Source; Silent-Consonant Words)
The Double Jeopardy round was an up-and-down round for Tamara—she got to both Daily Doubles; unfortunately for her, she got the second one incorrect. That was enough to make sure that Michael had a runaway going into Final Jeopardy!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Michael 28 correct 1 incorrect
Tamara 14 correct 3 incorrect
Ittai 10 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Michael $20,800
Tamara $8,500
Ittai $5,400
Only Ittai was correct in Final, but Michael’s runaway advances him to the semifinals!
Tonight’s results:
Ittai $5,400 + $601 = $6,001 (Who is Lady Gaga?)
Tamara $8,500 – $0 = $8,500 (Who is Bernadette Peters?)
Michael $20,800 – $0 = $20,800 (Who is Hepburn??) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) FULL-COURT PRESS $800 (clue #11)
Michael 2600 +2600 (Tamara 1400 Ittai 3200)
2) WHAT’S IN A NAME $1600 (clue #7)
Tamara 6200 +4500 (Michael 12000 Ittai 1000)
3) SILENT-CONSONANT WORDS $1600 (clue #20, $10400 left on board)
Tamara 11100 -7000 (Michael 18800 Ittai 1800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 110
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Tamara 4 5 5
Michael 5 4 4*
Ittai 3 3 4 3 3
DJ! Round:
Tamara 4* 5† 4 4*
Michael 4 5 2 1 3 1 1 5 3 2 2† 4 3
Ittai 3 3 5
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Michael 3.06
Tamara 4.43
Ittai 3.38
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:
Michael $19,000 Coryat, 28 correct, 1 incorrect, 49.12% in first on buzzer (28/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Tamara $12,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 3 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Ittai $5,400 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $37,000
Lach Trash: $8,600 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,400
Lead Changes: 3
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Tamara Ghattas, career statistics:
43 correct, 14 incorrect
6/9 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
23.81% in first on buzzer (40/168)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,100)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,200
Michael Menkhus, career statistics:
100 correct, 21 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
46.93% in first on buzzer (107/228)
3/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $600)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,250
Ittai Sopher, career statistics:
54 correct, 13 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities)
25.68% in first on buzzer (57/222)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $100)
4/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,250
Andy’s Thoughts:
- On the final Daily Double, I think Tamara would have been better suited to either bet really big or really small—even though $7,000 feels like a big wager, it wouldn’t have gained the lead at that point and thus doesn’t have enough of an upside to risk the game being a runaway. (A larger bet, one that would have put her in the lead if correct, would have had that higher upside to be worth it.)
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Michael $20,800 Tamara $8,500 Ittai $5,400)
Tamara: Cover bet over Ittai is $2,301. (Actual bet: $0)
Michael: You’ve got a runaway; bet no more than $3,799. (Actual bet: $0)
Ittai: Bet at least $800 here (but you might as well go all in.) (Actual bet: $601)
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I had no idea, so took a random guess at Bette Midler, can’t even say why—just a really good singer, but that could have been almost anybody. Just didn’t want a blank.
Judy Garland to Barbra Streisand (and knowing there was an earlier version), led me right to Lady Gaga. I’ve never seen any of them.
I wasn’t certain about Janet Gaynor, but I did know Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland made A Star is Born, so I was able to come up with Lady Gaga.
Ditto almost exactly, with the only difference being that I was less than “uncertain” about Janet Gaynor as I only knew that she was famous earlier than Judy Garland was.
This was a layup.
I loved that song A Star is born because of watching Top Gun Maverick a few years ago. That song brings back great memories for me.
I didn’t even think there was a song titled ‘A Star is Born’ IN any of the three ‘A Star is Born’ movies. I tried looking it up and cannot find that there is (other than the whole movies’ soundtrack being on an album of that name). And major songs from major movies are rarely played in a totally unrelated major movie [right?], so I am wondering exactly what you meant.
I’m surprised that only one contestant got this right. The fact that each film version kept the same title makes it easy to track.
A harder clue would involve something like “The Shop Around the Corner,” “In the Good Old Summertime,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “She Loves Me.” They all employ basically the same plot but under different titles.
The only movie I could think of that might feature Judy Garland, and, Barbara Striesand was “A Star is Born.” Did not know about Janet Gaynor, and, most certainly didn’t know about Lady Gaga.
This would be a straightforward Final Jeopardy if you’re a movie buff, or, pay more attention to entertainment news than I do. If you’re not a movie buff, or, pay as much attention to entertainment news, you just would have to deduce.
One thing that may weigh against publishing the semifinal matchups at 11 pm Eastern: one-quarter of U.S. media markets have Jeopardy! pre-empted today because of PGA Tour coverage on CBS.
And unfortunately, we have no precedent to go off with this; none of the four fall 2023 Champions Wildcard tournaments, nor the High School Reunion Tournament, had quarterfinal 9 fall on a Friday.
Great solve by Ittai on this Final. Not being much of a film person, I thought it might be referencing early career Oscar nominations or wins, so I put down Jennifer Lawrence. Though this is the first time this season I’ve gone 1-for-5 in Final for the week (and only the second week of less than three gets), the writing on all five of these Final clues was excellent.
I actually got a FJ right! LOL. I knew that Barbra Streisand had been in the last “A Star is Born” and had a hunch that Judy Garland had been too. I don’t go to many movies, but did see the 2018 version with Lady Gaga in the movie theatre. Of the 30 seconds we have to get this right, it took me about 15, as my brain was in search mode. See the face and utter the name….eventually.
I had Michael coming out of this Quarterfinal, so that made me 5 of 9 in my predictions.
The official Jeopardy website does have the matchups for the 3 Semifinal games, which I was happy to see. I will give my predictions for those on Andy’s preview page, if and when he posts one. 🙂