Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 17, 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 Characters In Book Series) for Tuesday, September 17, 2024 (Season 41, Game 7):
This 12-year-old began his first book saying, “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Will Yancey, a lecturer of history from Banquete, Texas
|
Alisa Kindsfater, an English teacher from Enola, Arkansas
|
Aiden Orzech, a teacher from Thornhill, Ontario, Canada (1-day total: $27,599)
|
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Aiden Orzech of Thornhill, Ontario is your new Jeopardy champion as the carousel of champions to start Season 41 continues. Today, he defends his title in an all-educator matchup, with your challengers being lecturer of history Will Yancey and English teacher Alish Kindsfater.
I’ll have more to say about this on the weekend in my editorial, but it was revealed yesterday on Inside Jeopardy that Jeopardy is planning on selling next-day streaming rights for the start of Season 42 in September 2025. This is definitely good news and another good thing that Michael Davies has helped to spearhead that I believe will keep Jeopardy viable into the 2030s.
(Content continues below)
My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have introduced a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2024? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
Do you appreciate the work I do here on The Jeopardy! Fan? Would you like to make a one-time contribution to the site? You may do so here!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 17 players, now including Adriana Harmeyer, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!
Correct response: Who is Percy Jackson?
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.)
Percy Jackson is the main character of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians series of books. Riordan originally conceived as a series of bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley, with Percy Jackson being the modern-day son of the ancient Greek god Poseidon. As Haley also had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, Percy was also written to be neurodivergent. In the context of this series, “half-blood” means that Percy has only half mortal blood (also known in Greek mythology as a demigod).
I was very happy when I realized that this clue today referred to the Percy Jackson books and not the Harry Potter books today. Kudos to the writing staff for this clue; 10 out of 10, no notes.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Here are our current featured items, including our new Masters Season 3 Player List T-shirt:
Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Historical Decisions; Philadelphia; Out There In Radio Land; Hodgepodge; About The Author; “Ize” & “Eers”)
Will had the best time early on, picking up 9 correct, a True Daily Double, and held a $7,400-$0-$0 lead after 15 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Will 9 correct 2 incorrect
Alisa 2 correct 1 incorrect
Aiden 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Will gets his lifelong love of the show from his grandmother.
Alisa got to play cowbell, washboard, and spoons in a play role.
Aiden saw Alec Baldwin at 30 Rock but was unable to say hi.
Will got his correct response count up to 16 as his score went into five figures by the end of the round.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Will 16 correct 2 incorrect
Aiden 8 correct 2 incorrect
Alisa 3 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Will $12,000
Aiden $2,600
Alisa $400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: First Ladies’ First Names; Placing Some Geography; Short-Titled Films; Conversational Vocabulary; Mythological Bromance; Super Hot Fire)
In a definite game of two halves, Will was limited to just five correct responses in the second half; he also missed a Daily Double. Meanwhile, Alisa also missed a Daily Double, but Will still led going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Will 21 correct 4 incorrect
Aiden 18 correct 3 incorrect
Alisa 11 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Will $13,200
Aiden $11,000
Alisa $5,400
Alisa and Aiden were both correct in Final; unfortunately Will wasn’t correct—this makes Aiden a 2-day champion!
Tonight’s results:
Alisa $5,400 + $5,400 = $10,800 (Who is Percy Jackson?)
Aiden $11,000 + $11,000 = $22,000 (Who is Percy Percy Jackson) (2-day total: $49,599)
Will $13,200 – $8,801 = $4,399 (Who is Harry Potter?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) OUT THERE IN RADIO LAND $800 (clue #13)
Will 3200 +3200 (Aiden -400 Alisa 0)
2) PLACING SOME GEOGRAPHY $1600 (clue #16)
Will 13600 -3600 (Aiden 7800 Alisa 2800)
3) MYTHOLOGICAL BROMANCE $1600 (clue #23, $5200 left on board)
Alisa 5200 -3000 (Aiden 9400 Will 12800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 16
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Aiden 1 4
Alisa 2 3
Will 3 4 5 2 1 3 4 3 4*
DJ! Round:
Aiden 1 2 3 4 5 3 2 3 4 5
Alisa 3 4 5 4 5 3 2 4*
Will 3 4* 5† 2† 1†
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Aiden 3.08
Alisa 3.50
Will 3.14
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:
Aiden $11,000 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Alisa $8,400 Coryat, 11 correct, 4 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Will $14,400 Coryat, 21 correct, 4 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,800
Lach Trash: $10,600 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,600
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Aiden Orzech, career statistics:
38 correct, 5 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
32.46% in first on buzzer (37/114)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,300
Alisa Kindsfater, career statistics:
12 correct, 4 incorrect
0/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,400
Will Yancey, career statistics:
21 correct, 5 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$400)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,400
Aiden Orzech, to win:
3 games: 44.036%
4: 19.392%
5: 8.539%
6: 3.760%
7: 1.656%
Avg. streak: 2.787 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- In the second game of a doubleheader on June 30, 1929, Chuck Klein hit an inside-the-park home run against the New York Giants; thus, a response of “out-of-the-park home runs” is technically incorrect in the context of Chuck Klein’s 1929 home run total of 43 (as only 42 of them were out of the park). That being said, with how Final Jeopardy turned out, this ruling completely did not affect the overall outcome of the game.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Will $13,200 Aiden $11,000 Alisa $5,400)
Aiden: Keep Alisa locked out and hope for a Triple Stumper; bet no more than $199. (Actual bet: $11,000)
Alisa: Bet no more than $1,000 and hope for an overbet from Aiden. (Actual bet: $5,400)
Will: Standard cover bet over Aiden is $8,801. (Actual bet: $8,801)
Become a Supporter now! Make a monthly contribution to the site on Patreon!
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
Have you had a chance to listen to our podcast game show, Complete The List, yet? Check it out! It's also available on Apple Podcasts.
My first instinct upon reading this clue was to type out a rage-filled essay in the comments section. (Not directed at Andy, just a “screaming into the void and hoping someone screams back” thing.) But when I read the clue again, I realized that the first HP book started with Harry being ten, so it couldn’t have been him. From there, I managed to arrive at Percy Jackson!
I only got about halfway through the first book before I had to return it to my elementary school library. Maybe I’ll finish it sometime.
I noticed the 12-years old part of the clue right away, and between that and “half-blood” (Harry wasn’t considered a “half-blood” in the Rowling books since both parents were wizards, even though his mother was Muggleborn), I knew it wasn’t Potter and Percy seemed to be the most reasonable alternative answer.
None of the book series I follow started out with a quote from the protagonist about being a “12 year old half blood,” so obviously I didn’t know what book series today’s Final Jeopardy refered to. I GUESSED Harry Potter, being the most currently well known series of books seemingly aimed at kids. I know of Percy Jackson, as well. But know less about that series than what I know of Harry Potter, which is very little.
And, I do recall Andy’s dislike of Rowling from her statments about personal views. But, I’d think that he could seperate those from the books.
Andy is firmly on the record that he draws no such distinction. Recall what he said when Daniel Radcliffe presented a category on the Harry Potter films in February 2023: “I am incredibly disappointed that Jeopardy! saw fit to run a category on the series today, and I feel it reflects badly on all involved—production staff, host, and contestants included—to have been excited for the category, beginning to end. Do better. Your collective nostalgia does not trump the rights of a group of people.”
He followed up in the comments: “It is my belief that because Rowling takes the continued featuring of her content as de facto support of her views, that it does not matter who is presenting the category, even Daniel Radcliffe—any presentation of the content is no longer acceptable.”
He confirmed those positions late last season when a category of quotes from the Harry Potter books was included.
I also guessed Harry Potter; when both category and clue were revealed, I thought about how it would be handled here if were something Rowling related. I’m quite confident that there would be multiple paragraphs of invective directed at the show — but given also the handling of the “Lucrece” final late in 2022, would he decline to publish it at all?
Harry Potter was not twelve, so I had no idea.
HP was not 12 but 10 when that series started so I eliminated that right away. However, my fear was that one or more contestants would be led astray by the clue. Fortunately, two out of three got it right so I was happy to see that.
Separately, in case anyone was wondering, no, I was not around for the inside-the-park homerun by Chuck Klein, haha. Not quite that old.
I’m surprised the home run thing didn’t get corrected. I would have thought the judges would have been all over that, especially as it was the last clue of the round IIRC.
I did not and do not know of Percy Jackson (probably to never having kids) and could only guess Harry Potter. 2 for 7 to start the season.
This was a fund game to watch between these 3 contestants. Will was a real hoot and retro congrats to Aiden on win #2. Will he be the first to a 3 game winning streak this season? What is, we’ll see tomorrow? 🙂
Thank you for including the note about the home run clue. I did a double take when I heard the reply because it was clearly a case of the contestant overthinking the answer and providing something more specific than needed to the point of being potentially wrong.