Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 21, 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 19th Century Americans) for Wednesday, February 21, 2024 (Season 40, Game 118):
In 1896, 15 years after a famous showdown, this man was accused of fixing a championship boxing match
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Mira Hayward, a podcast host from Portland, Oregon
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Jesse Matheny, a customer success specialist originally from Huntington, Indiana
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Deb Bilodeau, a restaurant server from San Francisco, California
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We’re just two days away from the start of the Tournament of Champions, and we’re down to just three contestants vying for the ToC’s final spot: Deb Bilodeau, Jesse Matheny, and Mira Hayward. As a reminder: this is a two-game total-point affair, meaning that today’s final scores are added to tomorrow’s in order to determine the overall winner. The prediction model thinks Mira is a slight favorite over Deb, but as Jesse has shown to us over the past couple of weeks, anything can happen—there is lots of variance in a game of Jeopardy!.
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 Wyatt Earp?
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.)
Wyatt Earp, who is best known in the history books today for his role in the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral, was in San Francisco in 1896 when he was selected to referee a championship boxing match between Bob Fitzsimmons and Tom Sharkey. The gambling public, who had bet heavily on Fitzsimmons, was incensed when Sharkey acted as if he had been hit below the belt (a clear violation under the Marquess of Queensbury rules), leading Earp to award the fight to Sharkey. As many believed that Earp had wagered on Sharkey, Earp’s reputation at the time was harmed considerably, and his reputation was only repaired posthumously upon the release of Stuart N. Lake’s 1931 biography Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, February 21, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Science Quiz; 1990s Music; Fun & Games; Boozy; It’s Reigning Men!; Hallelujah!)
Jesse picked up his fourth Daily Double in a row in the opening segment, which he used to briefly propel himself into the lead. However, Deb did well enough in the 1990s Music category to make sure that they led after 15 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Deb 7 correct 0 incorrect
Jesse 4 correct 0 incorrect
Mira 3 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Mira got a toilet paper roll holder from her sister to help prepare.
Jesse now has a 22-month-old girl.
Deb got a clue correct about their boyfriend’s favorite book in their first appearance.
In the second part of the opening round, Jesse picked up 8 correct to bring his score close to Deb’s.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Deb 12 correct 0 incorrect
Jesse 12 correct 0 incorrect
Mira 5 correct 0 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Deb $7,200
Jesse $6,800
Mira $3,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Places To Visit; American Authors; Art & Artists; Ends In “IR”; Extremely Random Calculations; Mr. Steve Martin)
Jesse found both Daily Doubles again; unfortunately for him, his True Daily Double attempt on clue #10 sent his score back to $0. However, he did find the last one, and got some money back from it. Deb leads this one going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Deb 19 correct 1 incorrect
Mira 13 correct 1 incorrect
Jesse 19 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Deb $13,600
Mira $9,800
Jesse $5,400
Deb was the only player correct in Final—that gives them a big lead going into tomorrow! (Though, it’s not insurmountable; Deb’s “effective lead” is $9,400 over both players, as anything earned in the main game tomorrow can be doubled in Final Jeopardy.)
Tonight’s results:
Jesse $5,400 – $2,600 = $2,800 (Who is Braddock?)
Mira $9,800 – $7,000 = $2,800 (Who is Doc Holiday?)
Deb $13,600 + $8,000 = $21,600 (Who is Wyatt Earp?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) HALLELUJAH! $1000 (clue #10)
Jesse 1800 +1800 (Deb 3400 Mira 2800)
2) PLACES TO VISIT $1200 (clue #10)
Jesse 8800 -8800 (Deb 10800 Mira 8600)
3) ART & ARTISTS $800 (clue #21, $5200 left on board)
Jesse 3200 +1000 (Deb 11600 Mira 7800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 31
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Deb 4 5 5 5 4
Jesse 4 5*
Mira 4 5 4
DJ! Round:
Deb 5 3 5 4 3
Jesse 3* 3 4 5 3 2 2 2*
Mira 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 2
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Deb 4.30
Mira 4.18
Jesse 3.30
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:
Deb $13,600 Coryat, 19 correct, 1 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Mira $9,800 Coryat, 13 correct, 1 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
Jesse $13,200 Coryat, 19 correct, 1 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,600
Lach Trash: $12,200 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,200
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Deb Bilodeau, career statistics:
109 correct, 16 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities)
37.68% in first on buzzer (107/284)
5/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,600)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,000
Jesse Matheny, career statistics:
97 correct, 18 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities)
33.80% in first on buzzer (96/284)
6/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000)
1/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,120
Mira Hayward, career statistics:
120 correct, 21 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (123/342)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,400)
4/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,033
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
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Even though I knew he wasn’t 19th century, I took a wild stab at “Who is Joe Louis?” Any guess better than no guess at all. I didn’t know ANYTHING about 19th century boxing. This Final seems fairly obscure to me—Wyatt Earp and boxing? I’m going out on a limb and predicting a triple stumper.
Hi RedRose, Based on the clue, I knew that it was referring to the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But I said it’s either going to be Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. I didn’t know which one. Drat. At least I was on the right track.
If I could have related 1881 to the O.K. Corral, maybe I would’ve gotten this. As it was, I said, Don King – seems like he’s been around forever 🙂
Thanks, got a good laugh out of this.
Hello, Judith P.! I got your Tuesday’s and Friday’s posts. Congrats on getting Friday’s Final, even from a “traumatic” memory. Unlike several commenters, all I knew about “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” was the name of the play, and obviously, that wasn’t enough.
Thank you, RedRose! I’m glad that you’re finding my messages. Also, I forgot to mention: I’ve also seen the movie with Liz Taylor & Paul Newman. It’s a great 1958 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams’ play. I would recommend watching it on t.v. or streaming it.
What the heck is a “customer success specialist?”
You know how corporate buzzwords are these days.
Also, I couldn’t figure out why this didn’t post. Sorry about that!
It’s a sales job where the salesman follows up with his clients to ensure they are satisfied with the company’s service and with the company as a whole.
I guessed Wyatt Earp because the timing was right.
This is one of those occasional “false lead” finals. The real clues are the date and the word “showdown” but the phrasing seems to emphasize the boxing aspect. Once I realized that, there was really only one person it could be.
I was too focused on boxing and thought of John L. Sullivan.
Yes, I went with Sullivan as well! 🙂 Great minds think (wrong) alike! LOL
This one may favor Mira with her “notorious people in history” background.
I came up with Gunfight at the OK Corral but could not come up with the answer because I could not remember the participants and who survived.
I was in pretty much the same situation except that I wasn’t even confident that the Gunfight at the OK Corral was during that period (though I thought it probably was). Then I guessed Wyatt Earp because I THOUGHT he was involved with that “showdown” [and couldn’t even remember any other potential participants fast enough] and he just seemed the type to have anything to do with boxing later.
I wasn’t aware of anything concerning the boxing end of this clue but it was an easy matter to come up with a famous showdown in 1881 by subtracting 15 from 1896 (the year my grandfather came through Ellis Island). That easily led to Wyatt Earp.
As an aside, in my youth, I was a Golden Gloves Boxing Champion. Unfortunately, they took away my title when they found out I was actually using golden gloves. JK 🙂
To me. the word “dhootout” meant a gunfight, and, the most famous real life gunfight was at the O.K. Corral, and, the most famous participant in that event was Wyatt Eatp. I never heard of his alledged fixing of a championship prize fight.
But the clue has the word “showdown”, not shootout
Right. For one thing, a “showdown” could be an election runoff or even a debate.
I was thinking of a boxer and went with Sullivan! Sneaky, sneaky writers! 🙂
Retro congrats to Deb for taking a pretty big lead heading to Day 2 of the Final and congrats on knowing Wyatt Earp! 🙂
I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow night and see who gets the coveted 27th spot in the ToC!
Like Mira, I had thought Doc Holliday would be the one to try to fix something like that, not one of the Earp brothers (of which Wyatt is the most famous). Since there was nothing to indicate that it was all one of those “blame the refs” conspiracy theories, the clue really didn’t help you deduce which to put down. Thus, it ended up being random guessing once you got the easy part done (the OK Corral). Ah well. Congrats to Deb – if they gets one Daily Double correct, it’s probably over.