Warning: This page contains spoilers for the August 18, 2025, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that today’s game is an encore presentation of the game that originally aired on February 17, 2025.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Literature & Sickness) for Monday, August 18, 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:
We’re past the halfway point of our Encore Presentations of the summer of 2025; week 4 sees the start of this past winter’s Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. The 27 players represented decades of Jeopardy! history between the 1970s and the 2020s.
Here’s what I said back in February: “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 break 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, August 18, 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, leading 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.
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
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I endured scarlet fever as a 12 year old. I am still so grateful that antibiotics helped me. I have no ill effects of the fever.
Two things I’d forgotten in the leadup to this tournament were, 1) just how dangerous Matt can be when the big clues fall his way, and 2) how much fun it is to watch when that happens. Watching him pull off the classic Matt Amodio double-up to swing the game in his favor felt just like I was back in 2021 and watching his original run, and he was a joy to watch in this tournament – even if, and I say this with all the respect and admiration possible, he’s the least convincing villain that I have ever seen 🙂