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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 25, 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 Migrations) for Tuesday, March 25, 2025 (Season 41, Game 142):
A biosphere reserve in Michoacán is named for these creatures that turn the forests orange & black every November
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Eugene Huang, a teacher from Paramus, New Jersey
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Sara Balmuth, an archaeologist from Shasta Lake, California
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Josh Weikert, a politics professor from Collegeville, Pennsylvania (2-day total: $32,800)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today’s game of Jeopardy! features challengers Eugene Huang and Sara Balmuth take on 2-day defending champion Josh Weikert. Josh’s postseason chances aren’t all that great at the moment, with winnings of $32,800—he’s got a less-than-50% chance right now of even coming back for Champions Wildcard, and would need a lot of very long streaks to get into the Tournament of Champions. (This, of course, assumes that the postseason format from this past winter doesn’t change again.)
For those of you who watch the show on CBS at 7:00 PM Eastern or later, the third and fourth rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament will cause preemptions on Thursday and Friday. Matt Carberry has prepared his usual Google sheet of affected airtimes. Check your local listings!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is the monarch butterfly?
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.)
Known in Mexico as Mariposa Monarca, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site established in 1980 is the overwintering site of the vast majority of eastern North America’s monarch butterfly population. Interestingly, the generation of butterflies that undertakes the migration southwards lives significantly longer than other generations; adult monarchs live for only for a couple of months during the summer, but the migratory generation will often live for 8-9.
To me, I was aware of the migratory patterns, so this was a straightforward Final; this is definitely a clue that has the opportunity to teach viewers who don’t know, though—for that reason, I like it.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, March 25, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Mountains; Hippo-Pourri; Quoting The Film; Mix -Ology; Business; Before Pleasure)
Sara had the best time early on, picking up 6 correct before the break. After 15 clues, the scores were Sara $3,600 Eugene $2,800 Josh $1,600.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Sara 6 correct 1 incorrect
Eugene 5 correct 0 incorrect
Josh 4 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Eugene thinks his four-year-old daughter would eventually be an excellent contestant.
Sara did her thesis in Ghent, Belgium…during lockdown.
Josh had a champagne-opening incident on a cruise.
Eugene missed the Daily Double as Josh found his buzzer timing, jumping into a lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Josh 13 correct 1 incorrect
Sara 6 correct 1 incorrect
Eugene 9 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Josh $7,200
Sara $3,600
Eugene $1,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Then, Voyager; 2-Word Phrases; Art History; Women On Tv; Plead The 5Th; Poetic Places)
In a Double Jeopardy round that saw a lot of imperfect strategy, Josh picked up $2,400 on DD2–and Eugene didn’t get to the last Daily Double until the last clue of the round. After a middle-ground wager and in incorrect response, it wasn’t a runaway for Josh going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Josh 26 correct 3 incorrect
Eugene 19 correct 2 incorrect
Sara 7 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 30 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Josh $20,000
Eugene $10,600
Sara $1,600
All three players were correct in Final; that’s a third win for Josh—he’ll go for #4 tomorrow.
Tonight’s results:
Sara $1,600 + $1,600 = $3,200 (What are monarch butterflies?)
Eugene $10,600 + $9,401 = $20,001 (What are monarch butterflies? butterflie Hi Boopie!)
Josh $20,000 + $1,201 = $21,201 (What are monarch butterflies?) (3-day total: $54,001)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BUSINESS $600 (clue #16)
Eugene 2800 -2000 (Josh 1600 Sara 3600)
2) 2-WORD PHRASES $1600 (clue #6)
Josh 8000 +2400 (Sara 2000 Eugene 4400)
3) THEN, VOYAGER $2000 (clue #30, $0 left on board)
Eugene 13600 -3000 (Josh 20000 Sara 1600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -63
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Josh 5 4 1 1 4
Sara 3 2 3 3 2 5
Eugene 4 2 3 4 3*
DJ! Round:
Josh 2 4* 5† 3† 2† 1† 2 5 4 3 2 5 1 1 3 4
Sara 1
Eugene 5 4 3 1 5 4 3 2 1 3 4 2 5*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Josh 2.95
Eugene 3.22
Sara 2.71
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 30 (0.21 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Josh $19,200 Coryat, 26 correct, 3 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Eugene $15,600 Coryat, 19 correct, 3 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Sara $1,600 Coryat, 7 correct, 3 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,400
Lach Trash: $8,200 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,400
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Josh Weikert, career statistics:
71 correct, 8 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities)
39.77% in first on buzzer (68/171)
4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,400)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,067
Sara Balmuth, career statistics:
8 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $1,600
Eugene Huang, career statistics:
20 correct, 2 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57)
0/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,600
Josh Weikert, to win:
4 games: 62.527%
5: 39.096%
6: 24.446%
7: 15.285%
8: 9.557%
Avg. streak: 4.669 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- On the final Daily Double, Eugene was just inside of two-thirds of Josh. The options that maximize his chances of winning are “no more than $266” (so, $5, to stay within two-thirds) or “at least $13,067” (or, $13,599), which would put him in the best possible situation if correct. As things stand right now, the benefit to being within three-quarters or four-fifths of the leader is of negligible practical benefit, as compared to staying within two-thirds. Thus, the best practical options are to play for the lead or to stay within two-thirds of the leader.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Josh $20,000 Eugene $10,600 Sara $1,600)
Josh: Standard cover bet is $1,201. (Actual bet: $1,201)
Sara: If you think Eugene might just bet the minimum to pass Josh’s cover bet here, you’re going to have to be correct and bet more than $801 to pass him. If you think he’ll bet $9,401, bet no more than $400. If you do go big, though, I would hold back $2, just in case Eugene goes all in. (Actual bet: $1,600)
Eugene: Bet at least $8,200 to win if Josh is incorrect; I might actually consider this, as it forces Sara to be correct in Final to have a chance of beating me. (Actual bet: $9,401)
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IMO, this is one of the easiest Final Jeopardy clues I’ve seen in a long time.
Ditto. As a long-time member of the WWF, I am very familiar with this great migration and knew the correct response immediately. No surprise to me that it was a Triple Get; I thought it would be as soon as I read the clue.
Got this one.
This was also a final jeopardy question in Oct 2020.
“Around 2010 the state license plate for Michoacan, Mexico featured these insects”
Unfortunately, my brain got stuck on birds – and the only bird of that color I could think of in that time was the Baltimore Oriole. Opening day only a couple days away.
Monarchs usually migrate through Grapevine, Texas on their way south. Each year, Grapevine hosts the “Butterfly Flutterby” festival to celebrate. Having lived in Grapevine and celebrated the butterflies, this was an easy get for me.
Initially, this Finally Jeopardy answer meaant nothing to me. But then Butterflies came to me, and, after some more consideration, came up with specifically Monarch Butterflies.
I must have read, or, heard this someplace, sometime, because I have no idea how I came up with this correct response. However I came up with the correct response, I’ll take the win.
There have been some very good documentaries shown on PBS about the Monarch butterflies, one specifically about environmental problems in Michoacán and attempts to plant additional specific necessary trees (which, unfortunately, are picky about transplantation and growing conditions). So unless you never watch PBS “nature programs”, that may be why you did know it.
I knew about them (for decades) without remembering the name Michoacán (though recognizing it as in Mexico) but ‘Viceroy’ popped into my mind and nearly kept me from being able to remember ‘Monarch’ in time! The two look almost just alike and both names mean sovereign, but I knew Viceroy was the wrong one.
I’m think this would be a good kids Final. I remember having to collect insects and butterflies in 8th grade and you better not have brought in a Monarch
Living in California and having seen these butterflies with my own eyes, I got it.