Warning: This page contains spoilers for the August 7, 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 6, 2025.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Ancient Geography) for Thursday, August 7, 2025 (Season 41, Game 109):
Wadi al-Malekat in Arabic, this site near a similar & better known location was the burial place of Nefertari & others
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Neilesh Vinjamuri, a software engineer from Lionville, Pennsylvania
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Drew Goins , a journalist from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
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Drew Basile , a graduate student from Birmingham, Michigan
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
The encore presentations of the 32nd Tournament of Champions continues today with what was called The Battle of the Dynamic Drew-O back in February, where Neilesh Vinjamuri took on the two Drews: Drew Basile and Drew Goins. While the Drews went by their last name in this one, it was the first time in over 15 years where two players with the same name had been placed in the same game and the first time in nearly 40 where it hadn’t been in a tournament final.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is the Valley of the Queens?
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.)
Located near ancient Thebes and near the modern-day city of Luxor in Egypt, the Valley of the Queens is situated very close to the more famous Valley of the Kings. While the Egyptian New Kingdom’s pharaohs and other powerful nobles were buried at the Valley of the Kings, queens, princes, and princesses were buried at the Valley of the Queens.
If you’re a golfer, you probably know the incredible feeling of hitting a ball perfectly flush as it travels exactly where you intended it to. The feeling is quite similar to the feeling of being able to put together the pieces of a Final Jeopardy clue that the writers have laid out, especially of a ToC-level Final. Here, my thought process was, “Okay, Nefertari was a famous Egyptian queen—I wonder if there’s a Valley of the Queens near the Valley of the Kings?” It feels pretty darned good to get that sort of a solve. I hope the players in the studio got the same feeling today.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, August 7, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Stocking The Cabinet; The Western Hemisphere; Legendary Tweets; Kind Of Blue Pop Culture; Library Glossary; Ends In “FF”)
With both Drews going by their last name, we got off to a bit of a rocky start, with 6 incorrect responses in the first segment, one of them being a miss by Drew Basile on the Daily Double. After 15 clues, the scores were Drew Goins $1,600 Neilesh $800 Drew Basile -$400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Drew Goins 3 correct 2 incorrect
Neilesh 3 correct 1 incorrect
Drew Basile 5 correct 3 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Neilesh had a friend comment on a comeback win.
Drew Goins warms up to a trap remix of the “Think!” music.
Drew Basile only has local guests for the ToC.
Things turned around well in the second half of the round as Drew Goins continued to lead.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Drew Goins 8 correct 2 incorrect
Neilesh 5 correct 1 incorrect
Drew Basile 9 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Drew Goins $4,800
Neilesh $2,000
Drew Basile $800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: English Lit; You Need To See A Specialist; The Arts; Newish Words & Phrases; Well, Well; Funny Boy Is An Actor Now)
Drew Goins found Daily Doubles on back-to-back clues; he tried to quadruple up through them, but an incorrect response on the second one dropped him back to $0. He recovered well to be in contention going into Final as Neilesh led.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Neilesh 13 correct 2 incorrect
Drew Basile 14 correct 6 incorrect
Drew Goins 17 correct 5 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Neilesh $8,800
Drew Basile $6,800
Drew Goins $4,400
Drew Basile and Neilesh were correct in Final as Neilesh advances to the finals!
Tonight’s results:
Drew Goins $4,400 – $400 = $4,000 (What is the Valley of the Kings?)
Drew Basile $6,800 + $2,002 = $8,802 (What is the Valley of Queens?)
Neilesh $8,800 + $4,801 = $13,601 (What Valley of the Queens) (Semi-Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE $800 (clue #7)
Drew Basile 800 -1000 (Drew Goins -400 Neilesh -800)
2) NEWISH WORDS & PHRASES $1600 (clue #10)
Drew Goins 3600 +3600 (Drew Basile 3200 Neilesh 8800)
3) YOU NEED TO SEE A SPECIALIST $1600 (clue #11, $21200 left on board)
Drew Goins 7200 -7200 (Drew Basile 3200 Neilesh 8800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Drew Basile 4 5 5 3 4*
Drew Goins 4 3
Neilesh
DJ! Round:
Drew Basile 3 4 5
Drew Goins 4* 4*
Neilesh 2 5 4 3 2 1
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Neilesh 2.83
Drew Basile 4.13
Drew Goins 3.75
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.24 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Neilesh $8,800 Coryat, 13 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Drew Basile $7,800 Coryat, 14 correct, 6 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Drew Goins $9,600 Coryat, 17 correct, 5 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $26,200
Lach Trash: $15,400 (on 14 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $12,400
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Drew Basile, career statistics:
213 correct, 47 incorrect
11/17 on rebound attempts (on 51 rebound opportunities)
37.83% in first on buzzer (216/571)
11/17 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $36,400)
5/10 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,280
Drew Goins, career statistics:
221 correct, 29 incorrect
10/12 on rebound attempts (on 41 rebound opportunities)
37.54% in first on buzzer (214/570)
11/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $26,600)
5/10 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,300
Neilesh Vinjamuri, career statistics:
138 correct, 15 incorrect
9/10 on rebound attempts (on 35 rebound opportunities)
37.72% in first on buzzer (129/342)
7/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,500)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,133
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I think Drew Goins going all in on DD3 was absolutely the correct move. It would have given him a runaway had he been correct—and given a choice between a $1600 Daily Double and a random Final Jeopardy, you’re about 15 to 20% more likely to get the Daily Double correct.
- Kudos to all three players for their excellent Final Jeopardy bets.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Neilesh $8,800 Drew Basile $6,800 Drew Goins $4,400)
Drew Basile: Cover bet over Drew Goins is $2,001. (Actual bet: $2,002)
Drew Goins: Bet exactly $400 for the best chance of winning. This will pass Drew Basile if he covers you and is incorrect (and you’re correct) as well as stays ahead of Neilesh if he covers Drew Basile (and is incorrect) (Actual bet: $400)
Neilesh: Standard cover bet over Drew Basile is $4,801. (Actual bet: $4,801)
Updated ToC odds:
Adriana +220
Isaac +200
Neilesh +130
Finals length odds:
3 games: +720
4 games: +320
5 games: +220
6 games: +290
7 games: +680
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Hey Andy!
In the ‘More information about Final Jeopardy’ I think there may be a typo in the last sentence – born —> buried.
Not sure if you feel this needs to be changed since it is a rebroadcast.
Hi, Rick!
This was brought up in the comments of the original recap, and Andy mentioned that while it was accidental, his mistakes also give him a good sense of who is and is not stealing his content (since, unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that will steal Andy’s work and pass it off as their own) – I’m guessing that what was written today (with “born” being used where “buried” should have been) was possibly taken from an older version of the recap, but I am not Andy, so I will not attempt to speak definitively on this as though I am. 🙂
Hey MasterDoge!
I think I was the one that brought it up originally.
Thanks for the comments.