Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 17, 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 Literature & Sickness) for Monday, February 17, 2025 (Season 41, Game 116):
Still around today, this strep infection that causes a rash has terrible effects in “Little Women” & the “Little House on the Prairie” books
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Doug Molitor, a novelist originally from Altadena, California
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Hannah Wilson, a yarn store owner from Chicago, Illinois
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Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, New York
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Week 8 of the 10-week Season 41 postseason sees the beginning of the 2nd Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament, featuring 27 players representing six separate decades of Jeopardy! play from the 1970s to the 2020s. The 1970s, you say? Wasn’t that when Art Fleming hosted the program? It certainly was—and Doug Molitor was one of the top contestants on The All-New Jeopardy, hosted by Art Fleming in 1978 and 1979. Doug later went on to win 4 times on the Alex Trebek version before reaching the semifinals of the 3rd Tournament of Champions and representing Season 3 in 1993’s 10th Anniversary Tournament. Doug faces off today against a pair of players much more recognizable to current fans of the show: 8-time champion Hannah Wilson and 38-time champion Matt Amodio, with Matt having been relegated to JIT after not finishing in the top 3 in Season 2 of Jeopardy! Masters. This does make Matt the favorite to advance to the semifinals out of this matchup, but the prevailing wisdom has changed significantly over the past few years in terms of how favored the top players are to win in these tournaments. It used to be that most people thought that the true best players had a massive advantage even at this level, potentially even being a 75 to 80% favorite, but that is really not the case—the top coaches these days (yes, Jeopardy! coaches do exist) believe that even the best players only have a 50% chance of winning any one game at this level. If the Daily Doubles and possibly even Final Jeopardy breaks against Matt, either Hannah or Doug are more than capable of snatching victory.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is scarlet fever?
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.)
Scarlet fever, once a leading cause of death in children before thankfully becoming treatable by antibiotics, was often prevalent in literature set in the 19th century, such as Little Women and Little Town on the Prairie. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, it was Beth March—based on Alcott’s younger sister Lizzie—who died of the disease. In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Town on the Prairie, it was said that the disease caused Mary’s blindness—though more recent medical literature has disproven this.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, February 17, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: We’re Talkin’ Baseball; This & That; 2-Word Rhymes; Clothes Minded; Novel Title Characters; The President Is In Trouble)
Hannah found the Daily Double and used it to propel herself to an early advantage. After 15 clues, the scores were Hannah $8,600 Matt $3,200 Doug -$200.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Hannah 7 correct 0 incorrect
Matt 5 correct 2 incorrect
Doug 1 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Doug owes his writing career to his history on the show.
Hannah opened her yarn store in Chicago and did an escape room with Juveria Zaheer, Ray Lalonde, and Mattea Roach in Toronto.
Matt wants to be the “game show villain”.
Matt picked up 11 correct after the break, but Hannah still led after 30 on the strength of her early advantage.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Hannah 9 correct 1 incorrect
Matt 16 correct 2 incorrect
Doug 3 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Hannah $9,600
Matt $6,800
Doug $800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Ancient Times; Sudden “Death”; Scientific Discoveries; Taking Lessons; Album Fill In The Blank; Philosophy)
While Doug found DD2 immediately, his incorrect response put him in the red and he wasn’t around for Final. The battle between Matt and Hannah swung in Matt’s favor when he doubled up through DD3, as Matt led going into Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Matt 26 correct 2 incorrect
Hannah 20 correct 2 incorrect
Doug 6 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Matt $30,400
Hannah $22,400
Doug -$3,200
Both Matt and Hannah were correct in Final as Matt advances to the semifinals!
Tonight’s results:
Doug -$3,200 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Hannah $22,400 + $8,001 = $30,401 (What is scarlet fever?)
Matt $30,400 + $15,000 = $45,400 (What scarlet fever) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) 2-WORD RHYMES $1000 (clue #11)
Hannah 4000 +4000 (Matt 2200 Doug 600)
2) ANCIENT TIMES $1200 (clue #1)
Doug 800 -2000 (Matt 6800 Hannah 9600)
3) PHILOSOPHY $800 (clue #15, $14400 left on board)
Matt 13600 +13600 (Hannah 19200 Doug -4800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Matt 5 5 5 4
Hannah 4 5 3 4 5*
Doug 3 2
DJ! Round:
Matt 3 4 5 2 2 5 2*
Hannah 5† 4 4 5 3 3
Doug 3* 4†
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Matt 3.82
Hannah 4.09
Doug 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.22 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Matt $17,600 Coryat, 26 correct, 2 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Hannah $19,400 Coryat, 20 correct, 2 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Doug -$1,200 Coryat, 6 correct, 4 incorrect, 15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $35,800
Lach Trash: $9,400 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,800
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 3
Player Statistics:
Matt Amodio, career statistics:
1645 correct, 193 incorrect
66/80 on rebound attempts (on 181 rebound opportunities)
46.68% in first on buzzer (1588/3402)
95/110 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $372,000)
41/59 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,863
Hannah Wilson, career statistics:
280 correct, 26 incorrect
15/19 on rebound attempts (on 47 rebound opportunities)
41.31% in first on buzzer (259/627)
14/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $40,300)
9/11 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,291
Doug Molitor, career statistics:
180 correct, 45 incorrect
12/14 on rebound attempts (on 36 rebound opportunities)
37.83% in first on buzzer (188/497)
8/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
5/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,378
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Doug ties a record set by Lionel Goldbart as the only known players to fail to reach Final Jeopardy more than once.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Matt $30,400 Hannah $22,400 Doug -$3,200)
Matt: Standard cover bet over Hannah is $14,401. If you think Hannah will bet small, though, a bet between $2 and $1,598 could be considered here. (Actual bet: $15,000)
Hannah: If Matt makes a cover bet and misses, he falls to $15,999. Bet no more than $6,400. (Actual bet: $8,001)
Doug: (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Updated JIT odds:
Matt +410
Skyler +2800
Margaret +5500
Jaskaran +2000
Emily +3200
Rachael +3200
Jonathan +4200
Raymond +4000
Troy +880
Jackie +3600
Maya +9300
Roger +1400
John +2200
Avi +9600
Amy +1300
Luigi +1900
Ray +3800
Robin +2400
Ryan +7100
Ben +1200
Claire +17000
Shane +2400
Seth +4900
Jackson +7500
Juveria +2000
Finals length odds:
2 games: +170
3 games: +110
4 games: +350
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It took me about 10 seconds to think of what illness associated with a rash was the one that killed Beth in Little Women, but eventually I got there.
I find it a little bit disconcerting that even in the late 70s/early 80s, when I was in grade school, we would occasionally be sent home with notices telling our parents about a communicable illness that was going around the school, and it had check boxes for things like measles, mumps, rubella, scarlet fever, and chicken pox; illnesses that are rarely seen in schools over the last 30 years but are poised for resurgence, as recent stories out of west Texas demonstrate.
Quickly recognized. True Scarlet Fever not seen much in the present. We still should remember diseases and conditions in case they are encountered.
I read this FJ clue and immediately responded with “Scarlet Fever”! Why? Because when I was 11 years old, I ended up to be sickly, with a bad case of strep throat, 104 degree fever, etc. It came to be that I had scarlet fever. Plus due to all that coughing I did, ended up with a hernia to be repaired. This was in the mid 1960’s. So the current administration needs to be mindful of this, and other, illnesses.
Good to see Doug Molitor back on Jeopardy! Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, I was watching the Art Fleming shows and may have watched Doug’s shows. But he did reappear on the Alex Trebek stage.
The first part of the clue was sufficient for me to respond correctly.
My wife is a huge fan of Little House on the Prairie and I have seen the episode where Mary goes blind many times. And ironically enough, she is watching Little Women series now. Was an easy get today.
I watched a Pop Culture Jeopardy episode last week on the elliptical. Of the 2 rounds, I got 3 right (and one I needed to pause the show to get Tiffany Haddish category). I did better in the Tournament of Champions final from the night before. Subject matter/categories matter. And Pop Culture is a total weak spot for me at this point.
I had Scarlet Fever in 1956. Was 10 years old. Got double shot of penicillin. Told to stay home from school for the rest of the school year. I was in 4th grade. School gave me an arithmetic book. Told to burn the book when I was finished. Missed my 10th birthday party.😢👵🏻
Wow Mary, so sorry to hear of your time with the illness!!! But it’s good that you pulled through, just like I did…
Scarlett fever was still common enough in the 1950’s that this was an easy one to get. I would have thought it would be a triple get had Doug participated in Final Jeopardy!
Did someone catch the Cannibal Corpsr clue? I wasn’t fast enough to jot it down or remember it.
J! Archive always has clue information: https://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=9123
I’m a day late here on this, but I could only come with Shingles as my answer.
Retro congrats to Matt on the win. The Amodio Rodeo is off to a fast start. Hannah played very well also. Was great to see a player I’d never seen before in Doug Molitor.