Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 18, 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 Award Winners) for Thursday, September 18, 2025 (Season 42, Game 9):
He became the first person to win both an Olympic medal & an Academy Award thanks to a short film he made about his sport
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Kelly Anneken, a content designer from Alameda, California
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Greg Shipman, a geoscience cartographer from Houston, Texas
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Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer originally from San Diego, California (6-day total: $162,117)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Paolo Pasco goes for victory #7 today on Jeopardy! after a closely fought victory yesterday in which he didn’t find a single Daily Double. His challengers today include Greg Shipman and a familiar name to Jeopardy! fans in Kelly Anneken; Kelly would be known to Jeopardy! fans as Amy Schneider’s ex-wife and podcast co-host.
In the aftermath of the extremely controversial firing of Jimmy Kimmel last night, this is also the first time where I actually fear that my predictions last November—that Jeopardy! might be immune from political interference due to the “bread and circuses” theory—might not be as correct as I initially thought. Remembering that Nexstar controls 37 affiliates that air the show (a number that would go over 50 if its merger with Tegna is approved) and the recent capitulation by the major broadcast networks at nearly every opportunity, I don’t think I have ever been as worried for my own job as I have been over the past month. (And to those of you who watch on an affiliate that’s part of the ABC network and are choosing to boycott that network: while this website is not intended to serve as a substitute for watching the show, there is a daily recap of each episode here at The Jeopardy! Fan.)
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Kobe Bryant?
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.)
Professional basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who won a pair of Olympic gold medals as a member of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic basketball teams, won his Oscar for the 2017 animated short film Dear Basketball.
Honestly, I think that this clue, as it’s been presented for Clue of the Day, is missing one more clue to be in the “sweet spot”; I think that if we’d been given a year/decade/even the 21st century, you’d eliminate a significant number of people guessing Johnny Weissmuller.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, September 18, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Kentucky History; 80s Words In The OED; Communication Information; “Little” “Black” Books; A Basket Of Clues; Sketchy Characters)
Paolo got off to the best start, picking up 7 correct and leading after 15 clues. At the interviews, the scores were Paolo $5,600 Greg $3,000 Kelly $0.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Paolo 7 correct 0 incorrect
Greg 4 correct 0 incorrect
Kelly 2 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Kelly was the first comedy curator for Pandora.
Greg often finds himself on TV at Texas Longhorns football games.
Paolo has a Canadian girlfriend; she hosts bar trivia in Toronto.
Paolo got the most number of clues correct, but Greg found the Daily Double, doubling up through it to have an $1,800 lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Greg 9 correct 0 incorrect
Paolo 14 correct 0 incorrect
Kelly 5 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Greg $9,600
Paolo $7,800
Kelly $1,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: World Capitals; First Names; In Theory; Sax Tracks; Gendered Language?; Sketchy Characters)
Clue 1: Kelly found the Daily Double. Clue 2: Kelly picked the same category. Clue 3: Paolo found the last Daily Double. Paolo picked up $5,100 and 13 other correct responses in the round to cruise to a runaway going into clue #61.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Paolo 28 correct 0 incorrect
Greg 13 correct 1 incorrect
Kelly 14 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Paolo $29,300
Greg $12,400
Kelly $8,600
Both Greg and Paolo were correct in Final; Paolo is now a 7-day champion; will he get to #8 tomorrow? Find out then!
Tonight’s results:
Kelly $8,600 – $4,801 = $3,799 (Who is Lance Armstrong)
Greg $12,400 + $4,801 = $17,201 (Who is Kobe Bryant)
Paolo $29,300 + $4,300 = $33,600 (Who is Kobe Bryant?) (7-day total: $195,717)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) KENTUCKY HISTORY $400 (clue #20)
Greg 4600 +4600 (Paolo 5600 Kelly 1200)
2) FIRST NAMES $1600 (clue #1)
Kelly 1400 +2000 (Paolo 7800 Greg 9600)
3) WORLD CAPITALS $1200 (clue #3, $31200 left on board)
Paolo 9800 +5100 (Greg 9600 Kelly 3400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 252
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Paolo 4 4 3 3 5 5 5 5 3 5
Greg 4 4 4 3 4 2*
Kelly 3 5 2 3
DJ! Round:
Paolo 3*
Greg
Kelly 4* 5†
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Paolo 4.09
Greg 3.50
Kelly 3.67
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Paolo $25,400 Coryat, 28 correct, 0 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Greg $8,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 1 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Kelly $8,200 Coryat, 14 correct, 4 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,800
Lach Trash: $6,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,000
Lead Changes: 8
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Paolo Pasco, career statistics:
183 correct, 10 incorrect
8/8 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities)
41.60% in first on buzzer (166/399)
10/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $25,600)
5/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,743
Greg Shipman, career statistics:
14 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,600)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,200
Kelly Anneken, career statistics:
14 correct, 5 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $8,200
Paolo Pasco, to win:
8 games: 69.308%
9: 48.036%
10: 33.293%
11: 23.075%
12: 15.993%
Avg. streak: 9.258 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Paolo $29,300 Greg $12,400 Kelly $8,600)
Paolo: Bet no more than $4,499. (Actual bet: $4,300)
Greg: Cover bet over Kelly in the battle for second is $4,801. (Actual bet: $4,801)
Kelly: Playing for second here, bet no more than $999 and take second if Greg is incorrect. (Actual bet: $4,801)
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I guessed Weissmuller, as he’s the most logical Olympian to movies connection there is.
Not a fan of this clue, as when I think of Olympians, I think of people that got famous for their Olympic achievements, not pro athletes that were famous or later became famous in their professional sport.
I didn’t consider Johnny Weissmuller to be a viable guess because I didn’t think they made documentaries back then, but I couldn’t argue that point.
The first name that came to my mind was Tony Hawk (thinking it needed to be a fairly new sport — why would we need a documentary about basketball or ice hockey, etc?), but I was quite certain that Hawk had never competed in the Olympics, so I guessed Shaun White.
I guessed Mark Spitz.
Usually, to write my response, I scroll down quickly without reading previous comments to avoid spoilers; it was fun to find out that my comment matched your exactly.
As a huge Lakers fan who has watched the short film several times, I knew Kobe fit most of the criteria, but you are 100% correct that this question is missing something. Even knowing Kobe had achieved this, it still seemed like a huge risk to assume that no one else had pulled it off in the near-century of Oscars before him.
Something as vague as a hint that it took a surprisingly long time for someone to accomplish this feat would have been enough. Alternatively, I know that a few years later, Shaq actually produced an Oscar-winning short film (directed by the son of first lawyer I worked under out of law school!), so perhaps they could have worked that dynamic into the clue somehow.
I believe this fact came up in one of my Guinness World Records books (either the 2018 or 2019 editions, as I don’t think his death in early 2020 was mentioned in the text describing the record), so this was fairly easy for me… but hey, I’m not complaining 🙂
I agree that the lack of ‘free speech’ is becoming appalling IMO…whether or not I agree on the politics of either side. Obviously, hate speech and threatening speech is bad but I think what Kimmel said was a glancing jab/blow at best and then watching the networks cave in is quite disturbing. History seems to be repeating itself, which I find amazing (in a bad way) and quite concerning.
Hit it right on the head for the clue not having enough information. I sat spinning my wheels on a large variety of so many different athletes who had made documentaries that I ran out of time.
I guessed Mark Spitz.
Great minds think a like 🙂
I had no idea, so I was forced to guess. Since I focused on individual sports and not team sports I was doomed.
I knew about Kobe’s film and award so I went with that as my response. Johnny Weissmuller never occurred to me but I think I may have considered him if he had. Similarly, I think Mark Spitz would have made a good choice as well. Just never thought of anyone beyond Kobe.
I’m really enjoying Paolo’s run and hope he is able to keep it going for a while, at least, up to a quarter million or so.