Warning: This page contains spoilers for the June 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 Sports) for Friday, June 21, 2024 (Season 40, Game 205):
50 years ago Vin Scully announced he got “a standing ovation in the Deep South” for breaking a longtime record
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Josh Heit, a government relations professional from Silver Spring, Maryland
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Richelle Brown, a substitute teacher from Alexandria, Virginia
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Drew Basile, a graduate student from Birmingham, Michigan (2-day total: $33,282)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
After knocking off superchampion Adriana Harmeyer, Michigander Drew Basile is now a 2-day champion on Jeopardy. Today, he faces off against a couple of DC-area players in Arlington’s Richelle Brown and Silver Spring’s Josh Heit.
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Correct response: Who is Hank Aaron?
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.)
Vin Scully’s call of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, surpassing Babe Ruth’s career total of 714, certainly is one of the more iconic in baseball history. “And it is a great moment for all of us and particularly for Henry Aaron.”
Hank Aaron, in 1974, received a record amount of mail in one year, nearly one million letters—a significant number of that number being hate mail in the lead-up to April of that year, as not everyone in America was happy that Babe Ruth’s all-time record was about to be broken.
Aaron finished his career in 1976 with 755 home runs and a still-record 2,297 runs batted in.
(And, yes, it’s great when a Final Jeopardy happens to use the same quote that is in one of my books.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, June 21, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: What A Lovely Smile!; Fictional Characters; On The Map; Multiple Meanings; Icons On Stamps; That Company’s History)
Drew and Josh had the best time early in this one with 5 correct responses apiece; Drew led after 15 despite 2 incorrect responses thanks to strong play at the bottom of the board. At the interviews, Drew had $2,800 to Josh’s $2,600 and Richelle’s $800.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Drew 5 correct 2 incorrect
Josh 5 correct 0 incorrect
Richelle 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Josh has performed at Carnegie Hall three times.
Richelle is a budding flamenco dancer.
Drew got a grant to go write in Italy—but didn’t write anything while there.
Josh got to the Daily Double, but an incorrect response dropped him back to $0. Richelle had a good segment as well, but Drew still lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Drew 8 correct 3 incorrect
Richelle 7 correct 1 incorrect
Josh 11 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Drew $4,400
Richelle $2,800
Josh $2,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: What A Lovely Mile!; Genres; Did You Get My Letter?; The Human Body; Abdications; Ends In Double “E”)
Richelle missed DD2, while Drew picked up $4,000 on DD3. Then, Josh picked up 4 of the final 6 clues to pull to within exactly 50% of Drew’s total. As Ken said, “very interesting!”
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Drew 20 correct 3 incorrect
Josh 18 correct 1 incorrect
Richelle 12 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 20 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Drew $20,000
Josh $10,000
Richelle $1,000
Both Josh and Drew got Final correct. However, Drew bet $0, which means…
Tiebreaker round category: SCIENCE
Tiebreaker round clue: This phenomenon named for a 19th century man is apparent in moving light sources as well as moving sound sources
Tiebreaker round correct response, given by Drew: What is the Doppler effect?
Tonight’s results:
Richelle $1,000 – $5 = $995 (Who is ?)
Josh $10,000 + $10,000 = $20,000 (Who is Hank Aaron?)
Drew $20,000 + $0 = $20,000 (Who Hank Aaron) (3-day total: $53,282)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THAT COMPANY’S HISTORY $1000 (clue #22)
Josh 3400 -3400 (Drew 3800 Richelle 2400)
2) THE HUMAN BODY $1600 (clue #5)
Richelle 4000 -3000 (Drew 5200 Josh 3200)
3) GENRES $2000 (clue #12, $19200 left on board)
Drew 11600 +4000 (Richelle 1000 Josh 4400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -141
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Drew 3 4 3 5 2 5 2 3 5 2
Richelle 1 5 1 2 3
Josh 4 4 3 4 3 4 5*
DJ! Round:
Drew 3 4 5 3 4 5*
Richelle 3 4* 5†
Josh 2 2 2
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Josh 3.30
Drew 3.63
Richelle 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 20 (0.10 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Josh $13,400 Coryat, 18 correct, 1 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Drew $18,000 Coryat, 20 correct, 3 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Richelle $4,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 4 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,400
Lach Trash: $10,800 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,800
Lead Changes: 3
Times Tied: 4
Player Statistics:
Drew Basile, career statistics:
66 correct, 14 incorrect
1/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
40.12% in first on buzzer (69/172)
4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $18,200)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,733
Richelle Brown, career statistics:
12 correct, 5 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,000
Josh Heit, career statistics:
19 correct, 1 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
27.59% in first on buzzer (16/58)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,400
Drew Basile, to win:
4 games: 55.625%
5: 30.941%
6: 17.211%
7: 9.574%
8: 5.325%
Avg. streak: 4.254 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- This is the sixth regular-play game to end in a Tiebreaker Round since the rule was changed in November 2014. This rule change was made necessary, in my opinion, due to the increased opportunity for collusion in the Internet Era—something that did not exist when the show was created. Comments regarding the necessity of the tiebreaker rule will be considered out of order here on the site.
- Today’s game is the 69th regular play game that had a non-zero tie at the end of Final Jeopardy. The full list can be found on the site here, and will be updated by 9:00 AM Eastern tomorrow with tonight’s result.
- The wording of the Final Jeopardy clue changed from what was published in the New York Times this morning. Strangely, last-minute changes to clues do not get reflected in the show’s database–which is what the Clue of the Day is pulled from. Interestingly, the change I was most expecting to see was not made.
- I was also not expecting to see an announcement that Alex Trebek was going to be honored by a stamp on today’s episode, but here we are.
- Viewers are reminded that, per the Site Comment Policy, “You’re welcome to voice objections to question material; however, your remarks must be reasonably sound with citations provided.”
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Drew $20,000 Josh $10,000 Richelle $1,000)
Drew: Bet $1. Do not risk the tiebreaker, especially considering that Josh had the run of the buzzer at the end of Double Jeopardy. (Actual bet: $0)
Richelle: Bet no more than $998. (Actual bet: $5)
Josh: You have one choice here: all $10,000. (Actual bet: $10,000)
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Like many here, I initially interpreted “he” as referring to Scully. But after reading through the clue fully, it was clear to me that were that the case, it wouldn’t actually be asking anything. Thus, “he” had to be someone else receiving an ovation that Scully was announcing; from there, “1974 in baseball” pointed to one obvious thing.
That’s quite a nice stat in the second bullet point of the postgame Thoughts.
Regarding betting for the tie or not — after further consideration, I withdraw my reply to “Golden Boy” (timestamp 17:02 EDT) in its entirely, and substitute the following, addressed directly to Andy:
The link under “Bet $1.” in the Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions is based on data up through early 2016 — and eight and a half years having intervened, a fresh analysis is overdue. Indeed, I put that a claim that “bet for the win” was proven or “solved” must necessarily fail, on the basis of a premise you advanced merely six days ago.
You closed out the “Running The Numbers” segment of the piece with this sentence: “Thus, in the average case, the two numbers do turn out reasonably close equal (18.46% vs 18.81%).” That’s as far as the numbers take you. Just below that, in “You Are Probably Not Average,” you wrote: “While I do not have the individual game data to plot this out, my gut feeling…”
There’s a term for that — vibes. I scarcely need remind you of the title of the June 15 editorial.
I’m inclined to agree with you that going for the win in “regulation” is the way to go. It absolutely may still be the case. But absent an analysis of current data, and only such an analysis, the premise you advance is not conclusively established, if indeed it ever was.
“Vibes”, LOL.
Drew could have been giving weight to his buzzer average and having 3 games of experience vs. one game.
I got the Tiebreaker, having learned about the Doppler effect in high school Physics (way back in the day). It seemed like a cool phenomenon and stuck with me.
What an exciting game!
I actually don’t mind Drew playing for the tie here. He was faster on the buzzer and if he didn’t like the FJ category, could reasonably have been willing to play the tie-breaker than lose by a buck.
That’s pretty much what I was intending to write when I was reading the first page of comments. Myself, I drew a blank on the FJ, and got the tiebreaker instantly.
I watched the show and them came here right after. We didn’t get the show until 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time due to the hockey game. Monday’s game will be delayed as well due to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. (I am cheering for OT).
When I heard Alex read the clue, I immediately knew it was Hank Aaron. The clue didn’t trip me up at all. But that’s probably because I am a Dodgers fan that started listening to baseball in 1977. Back then, you were probably treated to 10 games a season (of 162) that were broadcast on TV. I also had seen Vinny’s call of that HR many many times.
Then I come here and see all of this controversy over the phrasing of the clue. Had I not been a Dodgers fan and didn’t go to bed listening to Dodgers baseball and Vin Scully as the voice I fell asleep to, then perhaps the clue would have stymied me. I’ll never know the answer to that though. Needless to say, this was my easiest FJ ever.
Retro congrats to Drew on win #3. That tie was quite interesting. See what happens in his quest for #4 on Monday.
Have a great weekend everyone! 🙂
Oops…I mean “Ken” read the clue! And kudos on the USPS for the Alex Trebek stamp!
I too that that the HE was Vince Scully and was mystified by the question.