Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 2, 2025, 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 Science: The ____ of ____) for Thursday, January 2, 2025 (Season 41, Game 84):
4 of these discovered in the early 1600s were given the names of lovers of a mythological deity
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Kaitlin Tarr, a ceramic artist from Denver, Colorado
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Colleen Matthews, a speech-language pathologist from Hillsboro, Oregon
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Will Yancey, a lecturer of history from Banquete, Texas
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Things are pretty much the definition of “too close to call” right now going into this 2-day Second Chance final. I ran this matchup through my prediction model—and it gave Will a 33.9% chance of winning, Colleen a 33.6% chance, and Kaitlin a 32.5% chance. Remember, today’s scores are added to tomorrow’s in order to determine the overall winner. Kaitlin certainly dominated on the buzzer in her semifinal, but Colleen had a number of high-valued gets. Meanwhile, it was Will who found all of the Daily Doubles in his semifinal. Each player seems to have an advantage in a separate facet of gameplay, and I am very much looking forward to seeing how things play out over the next two days.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What are the moons of Jupiter?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2025 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Viewers are generally reminded that correct responses generally need to fit the demands of both the clue and the category. In this case, that would mean that a correct response would likely need to take the form “____ of ____.” Presumably, in order to rule out the semantics of “Galilean moons” technically not being a smaller subset of a larger group, as would be implied by “4 of these,” only “the moons of Jupiter” would really fit the exact wording of this clue. (And, of course, disagreements with the above, as per the Site Comment Policy, need to be a reasonably sound rebuttal with citations provided.)
Now, onto the substance of the clue itself: Jupiter now has nearly 100 confirmed satellites orbiting it, but the planet’s four largest moons—named Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—were first discovered by Galileo in the early 1600s, and given the names of four of Zeus’s lovers in Greek mythology.
I would also say that I enjoy the fact that the writers in 2024 aren’t afraid to move outside of the box when it comes to Final Jeopardy clues—although this will absolutely upset the crowd of fans who like to complain online every time the show runs a category more creative than “Rhyme Time”.
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 Thursday, January 2, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: So Sayeth The King James Bible; Seconds; Idiot Idioms; Name Drops Keep Fallin’ On My Head; Classy Creatures; You Say Tobago, I Say Tobago)
Will found the Daily Double very early and picked up $1,000 from it. After 15 clues, the scores were Will $2,600 Kaitlin $1,200 Colleen -$200.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Will 4 correct 1 incorrect
Kaitlin 6 correct 2 incorrect
Colleen 2 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Kaitlin still had a big viewing party and her attendees booed Adriana.
Colleen regrets missing every Daily Double in her first game.
Will has a bird who likes to imitate his wife.
All three players had a good segment with only one incorrect response and one Triple Stumper as Will continued to lead.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Will 9 correct 1 incorrect
Kaitlin 12 correct 3 incorrect
Colleen 5 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Will $6,400
Kaitlin $2,800
Colleen $1,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: That’s Some Opening Act; Novel Title Drop A Letter; Whiskey, & Keep ‘Em Comin’; Antonyms: The Anti-Synonyms; Trials; Tributaries)
Will picked up 14 correct and both Daily Doubles; he went for a conservative $3,700 on a very late DD3; his incorrect response brought his score back to Colleen and Kaitlin slightly going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Will 23 correct 4 incorrect
Kaitlin 18 correct 4 incorrect
Colleen 9 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Will $20,000
Kaitlin $6,800
Colleen $4,200
Colleen was correct in Final, while Will stood pat. Will leads going into tomorrow, but this isn’t over yet! Will’s “effective lead” is $5,800 over Colleen and $9,999.50 over Kaitlin.
Tonight’s results:
Colleen $4,200 + $4,200 = $8,400 (What are the moons of Jupiter?)
Kaitlin $6,800 – $6,799 = $1 (What are fossils?)
Will $20,000 – $0 = $20,000 (What is in memory of Carey Harden)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) SO SAYETH THE KING JAMES BIBLE $800 (clue #2)
Will 600 +1000 (Colleen 0 Kaitlin 0)
2) TRIBUTARIES $1200 (clue #5)
Will 7200 +2500 (Colleen 3000 Kaitlin 3200)
3) NOVEL TITLE DROP A LETTER $2000 (clue #30, $0 left on board)
Will 23700 -3700 (Colleen 4200 Kaitlin 6800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 119
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Will 3 4*
Colleen
Kaitlin
DJ! Round:
Will 3* 4† 5† 2† 1† 4 5 2 1 3 4 3 4 1 4 5*
Colleen 1 2 1 3 3 4 5
Kaitlin 2 5 2 1 2 5 3
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Will 3.22
Colleen 2.71
Kaitlin 2.86
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.31 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Will $22,200 Coryat, 23 correct, 4 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Colleen $4,200 Coryat, 9 correct, 3 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Kaitlin $6,800 Coryat, 18 correct, 4 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,200
Lach Trash: $9,800 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,000
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Will Yancey, career statistics:
65 correct, 14 incorrect
5/7 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities)
35.67% in first on buzzer (61/171)
6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,000)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,000
Colleen Matthews, career statistics:
47 correct, 7 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
26.90% in first on buzzer (46/171)
1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
3/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,067
Kaitlin Tarr, career statistics:
66 correct, 13 incorrect
1/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
40.35% in first on buzzer (69/171)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,200)
0/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,333
Andy’s Thoughts:
- The prediction model currently believes that Will has a 69.0% chance of winning, Colleen has a 22.5% chance, and Kaitlin has an 8.5% chance.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
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I was thinking constellations but couldn’t think of something in the correct format…but yeah, seeing the moons of Jupiter, it’s now a ‘duh’ moment for me.
MarkO! And I was thinking comets. Not sure how I was going to satisfy the category set up.
Andy – any advice or assistance on having website remember my name and email address?
The timing was right for the moons of Jupiter. I did not know they were lovers of a deity. I learned something new.
That was not hard. “The satellites of Jupiter”, if anyone bothers to write the longer word, should be acceptable as well, I believe.
FWIW, I agree with you, but I really doubt anyone would go with “satellites” rather than “moons”.
I came up with “the satellites of planets”… not specific enough
When I saw the category, I tried to figure out what might fit the wording. My first thought was names of planets. That got me thinking along the lines of our solar system, especially since I had made a model of it in elementary school. Since I was already thinking our solar system, the clue led me directly to moons of Jupiter. Hadn’t thought of it until Leo B. mentioned it but “satellites of Jupiter” should work, too.
Who won?
Nobody knows yet. It’s a two-game total-point final, where today’s scores get added to tomorrow’s. Will is leading, but the winner will be determined tomorrow.
Andy, your note that they were lovers of Zeus makes this a horrible clue IMO. While the Roman god Jupiter is based on the Greek god Zeus and has many similarities, they are not freely interchangeable.