Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, July 25, 2025

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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the July 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 20th Century Names) for Friday, July 25, 2025 (Season 41, Game 230):

According to one obituary, in 1935 he owned 13 magazines, 8 radio stations, 2 movie companies & $56 million in real estate

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Jonathan Hugendubler, an adjunct professor & trivia host from Baltimore, Maryland

Charlotte Cooper, a graphic designer from San Francisco, California

Scott Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey (16-day total: $455,000)

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Scott Riccardi enters today’s game, the last game of Season 41, as a 16-day champion. Whoever wins today—whether it be Scott or either challenger, Charlotte Cooper or Jonathan Hugendubler—will have to wait until September 8 and the start of Season 42 to defend their title again, as Jeopardy! enters into its usual six weeks of encore presentations beginning Monday. I’ll be honest, though: I am kinda looking forward to the ability to disconnect a bit over the next six weeks. While The Jeopardy! Fan is very important to me, I have very much improved my work-life balance over the past few months and very much look forward to continuing that over the summer break.

To me, the two biggest draws of superchampions like Scott—especially when he’s on his game—are “What day will he lose on?” and “How much money will he win every day?” I find the answer to both of those questions incredibly intriguing—and I do think the first question is very reliant upon “how well do the challengers play?” I do suspect that a challenger will likely need to be close to Scott’s level and play very close to perfectly in order to unseat him, similarly to how Emma Boettcher unseated James Holzhauer back in 2019.

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(Content continues below)

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Correct response: Who is William Randolph Hearst?

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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.)

William Randolph Hearst was one of the largest media moguls of the early 20^th century, who owned a significant swath of American media of the time. His media empire still exists in the form of Hearst Communications, although he was nearly financially ruined in the late 1930s as a result of his newspapers’ support of Adolf Hitler’s policies in Germany.

The citations in later obituaries regarding Hearst’s holdings in 1935 would have come from the October 1935 issue of Fortune magazine.

This felt like a relatively straightforward Final Jeopardy clue to me; however, Citizen Kane (a movie obliquely based upon Hearst) is a movie that I have both seen and enjoyed.

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, July 25, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: War Bonds; Stars; Televised Criminal Behavior; What’s That Spell?; Compound Words In Other Words; Freakier Fridays)

Jonathan started with three incorrect responses early, but almost got out of the hole by the break. Scott had 7 correct to lead; after 15 clues, the scores were Scott $5,600 Charlotte $2,200 Jonathan -$200.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Scott 7 correct 0 incorrect
Charlotte 3 correct 0 incorrect
Jonathan 3 correct 3 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Jonathan had parents who were radio morning show hosts for nearly four decades.
Charlotte had an internship at Lucasfilm.
Scott plays Super Smash Bros. competitively and considers himself “extremely adequate”.

Scott found the Daily Double immediately coming out of the break, picking up $2,000 from it and extending his lead by halftime.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Scott 16 correct 0 incorrect
Charlotte 6 correct 1 incorrect
Jonathan 6 correct 3 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Scott $10,800
Charlotte $3,000
Jonathan $800

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Stately Bodies Of Water; Writers On Writing; They’re All Greeks To Me; The Way We Wore; Famous Animated Voices; 16-Letter Words)

Jonathan found both Daily Doubles within the first three clues to pull within $2,000 of Scott. Unfortunately for him, that was a close as he got during the round—Scott picked up 13 correct responses in Double Jeopardy to take a good-sized, but not runaway, lead going into Final Jeopardy.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Scott 29 correct 0 incorrect
Jonathan 13 correct 3 incorrect
Charlotte 12 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 40 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Scott $23,600
Jonathan $14,000
Charlotte $7,800

Charlotte came up with Hearst. Jonathan came up with Hearst. Scott came up with Howard Hughes—and Season 41 wraps with a new champion in Jonathan Hugendubler. Jonathan will return on September 8 to defend his title.

Tonight’s results:

Charlotte $7,800 + $7,800 = $15,600 (Who is Hearst?)
Jonathan $14,000 + $9,601 = $23,601 (Who is hearst?) (1-day total: $23,601)
Scott $23,600 – $5,000 = $18,600 (Who is Howard Hughes?)

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Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) WHAT’S THAT SPELL? $800 (clue #16)
Scott 5600 +2000 (Charlotte 2200 Jonathan -200)
2) STATELY BODIES OF WATER $1600 (clue #1)
Jonathan 800 +2000 (Scott 10800 Charlotte 3000)
3) THEY’RE ALL GREEKS TO ME $2000 (clue #3, $30800 left on board)
Jonathan 4400 +4400 (Scott 10800 Charlotte 3000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 236

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Scott 3 4 5 5 3 5 3 3 4*
Charlotte 4 4 4 5
Jonathan 3 4 5

DJ! Round:
Scott
Charlotte
Jonathan 4* 4 5*

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Jonathan 4.17
Scott 3.89
Charlotte 4.25

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 40 (0.17 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Jonathan $11,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Scott $22,400 Coryat, 29 correct, 0 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Charlotte $7,800 Coryat, 12 correct, 1 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,400
Lach Trash: $9,800 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $2,800
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 1

Player Statistics:

Scott Riccardi, career statistics:

464 correct, 32 incorrect
27/28 on rebound attempts (on 72 rebound opportunities)
43.45% in first on buzzer (421/969)
23/30 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $58,000)
12/17 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,047

Charlotte Cooper, career statistics:

13 correct, 1 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,800

Jonathan Hugendubler, career statistics:

14 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,200

Jonathan Hugendubler, to win:

2 games: 48.883%
3: 23.895%
4: 11.681%
5: 5.710%
6: 2.791%
Avg. streak: 1.956 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:

• Scott finishes his run in regular play sitting 18th in terms of most correct responses given on the show.
• It would be fitting if the last Harry Potter clue on the show had to do with “avada kedavra”, because that’s what the show should do with those clues.
• Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Scott $23,600 Jonathan $14,000 Charlotte $7,800)

Scott: Standard cover bet is $4,401. (Actual bet: $5,000)

Charlotte: Bet between $0 and $3,400—Jonathan is probably most likely to bet $9,601, and this stays above that to take second if he’s incorrect. (Actual bet: $7,800)

Jonathan: Bet between $5,200 and $6,199—this both passes Scott’s cover bet as well as gives you the best chance of holding onto second place. (Actual bet: $9,601)

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