Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 12, 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 Texas Technology) for Monday, May 12, 2025 (Season 41, Game 176):
Just 27 in 1992, he’s still the youngest-ever CEO of a company when it entered the Fortune 500
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Rachel Hall, a data analyst from Washington, D.C.
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Andrew Jones, a graduate student from Queens, New York
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Kara Peruccio, a university professor from Bangor, Maine (1-day total: $12,400)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
I had a feeling that Maine’s Kara Peruccio might do well on Friday after I’d seen some local media articles about her appearance coming in; that feeling proved correct as she won on Friday. Assuming no changes to the postseason format, she’s very likely going to need a big win today, or a pair of wins in general, in order to see postseason play in the winter of 2026. Today, she faces off against Andrew Jones and Rachel Hall.
Good news for Jeopardy! fans: going into the weekend, ABC chose to renew Celebrity Jeopardy! for a fourth season; I think that this just goes to show that more than just straight ratings are responsible for a show’s renewal. That said, I definitely hope that ABC returns the primetime J! offerings to an 8:00 time slot in the 2025–26 season.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Michael Dell?
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.)
Dell became known in the 1980s for selling lower-priced IBM PC compatible computers direct to consumers, and rose rapidly during the 1990s, being named part of the Fortune 500 in 1992. The company itself was founded by Michael Dell when he was a freshman at the University of Texas in 1984, and was able to make money due to having lower overhead costs, only manufacturing PCs once orders had been placed.
For me, remembering that Dell was a Texas company was important for me to getting this Final Jeopardy clue correct. We shall see how this clue plays in general; business clues always seem to play harder for both players and audience members alike.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, May 12, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Landlocked States By Cities; Mineralogy; That Food Is Fire; Letter Perfect; Court; Marshall)
In an opening segment where our three players scattered a half-dozen incorrect responses, Kara got off to the best start. At the break, the scores were Kara $2,400 Rachel $400 Andrew -$400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Kara 5 correct 1 incorrect
Rachel 4 correct 2 incorrect
Andrew 2 correct 3 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Rachel was a playwright in high school.
Andrew had to eat a turkey sandwich nightly as part of a theatre role.
Kara is working on a book in order to get tenure.
Kara found the DD, losing just $1,000—probably a good bet as nobody was really sure what the category was about at that point. She still led after 30.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Kara 9 correct 2 incorrect
Andrew 9 correct 4 incorrect
Rachel 6 correct 3 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Kara $3,200
Andrew $2,400
Rachel $400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Ancient Persia; It Ain’t Shakespeare; Suburban Legend; We’ve Got Rights; Movie & Song, Same Title; Jeoportmanteau!)
In a Double Jeopardy round that didn’t hit the contestants very well, Andrew missed both Daily Doubles, giving the lead to Rachel, Unfortunately, Rachel gave an incorrect response on the last clue of Double Jeopardy, putting our two challengers tied for the lead going into Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Rachel 12 correct 4 incorrect
Andrew 17 correct 7 incorrect
Kara 12 correct 5 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 30 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Rachel $5,600
Andrew $5,600
Kara $400
This Final Jeopardy was a Triple Stumper, which means this came down to the wagering. Andrew picked $0 for his bet, and ended up the champion! He’ll be back tomorrow to defend.
Tonight’s results:
Kara $400 – $0 = $400 (Who is ??)
Andrew $5,600 – $0 = $5,600 (Who is Mark Cuban?) (1-day total: $5,600)
Rachel $5,600 – $5,100 = $500 (Who is Sergei Brin?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) MARSHALL $600 (clue #18)
Kara 2800 -1000 (Andrew 200 Rachel 400)
2) IT AIN’T SHAKESPEARE $1600 (clue #13)
Andrew 4400 -2400 (Kara -400 Rachel 1200)
3) MOVIE & SONG, SAME TITLE $1600 (clue #15, $20000 left on board)
Andrew 3200 -2000 (Kara -400 Rachel 1200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -153
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Kara 4 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 3 3*
Andrew 3 5 3 2
Rachel 2 2 1 1
DJ! Round:
Kara 3 4 5 2
Andrew 2 2 3 4* 3 4*
Rachel 1 2 1 3 1
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Andrew 3.10
Rachel 1.56
Kara 3.86
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 30 (0.17 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Andrew $10,000 Coryat, 17 correct, 7 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Rachel $5,600 Coryat, 12 correct, 4 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Kara $1,400 Coryat, 12 correct, 5 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $17,000
Lach Trash: $20,200 (on 16 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $16,800
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 4
Player Statistics:
Kara Peruccio, career statistics:
30 correct, 10 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (30/114)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,800
Andrew Jones, career statistics:
17 correct, 8 incorrect
0/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57)
0/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$4,400)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,000
Rachel Hall, career statistics:
12 correct, 5 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $5,600
Andrew Jones, to win:
2 games: 21.933%
3: 4.811%
4: 1.055%
5: 0.231%
6: 0.051%
Avg. streak: 1.281 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Sometimes the game material just doesn’t hit the contestants. I think today was one of those days.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Andrew $5,600 Rachel $5,600 Kara $400)
Kara: Anything between $0 and $399 is fine. Just don’t go all in. (Actual bet: $0)
Andrew: Your best two choices here are either $0 or all $5,600. (Actual bet: $0)
Rachel: Your best two choices here are either $0 or all $5,600. (Actual bet: $5,100)
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Second time in a week, Andy, that your calculations show the champion having less than a 25% chance of winning a second game, though the previous one was one of the lowest runaways I’d seen in a long time. I guess that one the material didn’t hit the contestants, either. Kudos to everyone who gets onto the show, though, something I’ve never done. I didn’t even know that Dell was named for the founder of the company.
Probably because I was in college/grad school when Dell started/was growing rapidly and very interested in computers at the time (had part-time job with IBM in college), this one was very straight forward to me and an instant get. Surprised none of the contestants got this one.
That was an instant get for me as well. “Texas” in the category was a big help.
I’m sitting in front of my Dell PC, staring at my Dell monitor, and still didn’t get this one right. Doh.
That, Gregory, is very funny. Well played comment.
Same. Dell laptop and two Dell monitors right in front of me as I type this. And I was born in 1966 and got my degrees in CS and EE so was a ‘peer’. But I had no idea it the named was for the founder.
Marco, a DELL PC was the “Best” and worst computer I ever bought [“Best” for reputation and highest price I ever paid, worst for (many) problems and a lifespan of only a month past warranty], so I haven’t had it as a potential reminder for a long time, but I did know the Michael Dell story. I hope he knows about being a FJ! but no one knew him!
Ah ha, now that you said that, I had to look and same here! I bought this computer from my brother-in-law back in early 2019.
“I had a feeling that Maine’s Kara Peruccio might do well on Friday after I’d seen some local media articles about her appearance coming in.”
I would have told everyone I was on even if I didn’t win! I was told that my Jeopardy! story was a nice breath of fresh air amidst all the commencement content for the university’s news team 😀
Thanks for sharing that info Kara! And congrats on being a 1-day Jeopardy Champion! I admire all of you that make it to the Alex Trebek stage and play this game. The closest I’ll ever come to being on this show is attending a taping, which I have now done 4 times and will do again when they start taping for Season 42. 🙂
I didn’t get this Final either. In fact I didn’t really have much of an idea as to what the correct response was. Not knowing hisage, or, even if any of his companies was based in Texas, I said Elon Musk, Even if any of his entrprises are based in Texas, his biography on Wikipedia said he was born in 1971, so he’s not old enough.
And besides, he’s South African.
At one time in the past, had a Dell computer and knew that the company was named for the founder. Interested enough in investing in the technology sector that I knew Dell the company was based in Texas. Those clues led me to the correct response.
I thought Andrew’s response of Mark Cuban wasn’t bad as Cuban is only about six years too old and could be associated with Texas as he is still part owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
By the way, that is not meant to imply that Rachel’s response of Sergey Brin wasn’t also a good try. It’s just that as a founder of Google, Brin was just a bit late for this clue. Google was founded in 1998, a few years later than needed to fit the clue.
Straight-up tough board, imo.
I nailed this FJ immediately and was a bit surprised when no one got it right. Though when I saw the answer Mark Cuban, I was like “rut roh” for a moment.
I think that I got this for a few reasons. The clue including Texas in it was a huge help. My sister living north of Austin also helped. And lastly, on the PGA Tour there used to be a tournament in Austin and it was named the Dell Technologies Match Play. One of my favorite tournaments actually and that naming rights for that tournament definitely helped on this.
Retro congrats to Andrew on the win and we’ll see if he can get win #2 tomorrow! He’s definitely not the Andrew Jones that used to play in the major leagues. 🙂
For sure. That old Atlanta Brave outfielder spelled his name “Andruw”. Go figure. 😉
Ah yes Harris! Thank you for reminding me of that! I had forgotten. 😉