Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 19, 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 Slogans) for Friday, September 19, 2025 (Season 42, Game 10):
After adopting “very nice” in tourism ads, an official of this country said, its people, “jokes to the contrary, are some of the nicest”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Hebah Uddin, a social media moderator & Ph.D. candidate originally from Long Island, New York
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Steven Olson, a band director from Princeton, Illinois
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Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer originally from San Diego, California (7-day total: $195,717)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Week 2 of Season 42 of Jeopardy! concludes with 7-day champion Paolo Pasco taking on Illinois’s Steven Olson and Long Island’s Hebah Uddin.
After remembering what happened during the last postseason, where #3-seeded Drew Basile ended up having a significantly more difficult semifinal, having to play against Drew Goins and Neilesh Vinjamuri, as compared to #2-seeded Isaac Hirsch (who got drawn against Mark Fitzpatrick and Amy Hummel), I think that today is a deceptively important game for Paolo to win. Certainly, a win would leapfrog him past Laura Faddah as the #2 seed in the Tournament of Champions, and I don’t think this is a point to be forgotten come next February.
One thing that concerns me about Paolo’s ability to win today’s game, though: if you remember the opening to yesterday’s game, Ken was already noting that Paolo had said he was tiring; Paolo said he wanted to take a really long nap. (Though, truth be told, don’t we all just want to be able to nap all the time?) Getting through an entire tape week is a very difficult prospect, and I am worried that Paolo might not be on his “A game” in this Friday matchup.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Kazakhstan?
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.)
Despite originally being angry regarding its portrayal in the 2006 mockumentary Borat! Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic later embraced the film, using the Sacha Baron Cohen character’s catchphrase of “Very nice!” as a tourism slogan in 2020 when the movie’s sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit One Glorious National of Kazakhstan.
One thing that always worries me when Final Jeopardy! clues about Kazakhstan come up is spelling; it’s one of the more difficult country names to spell in English, and I’m always worried that someone is going to be tripped up by that.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, September 19, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: U.S. Territories; Quick Chem; From The Video Game Manual; Ancient Eating; Swap A Letter; Broadway)
Paolo had six correct to take an early lead; Steven, after struggling with a pair of incorrect responses, found the Daily Double, picking up $1,000 to pull closer to Paolo. After 15 clues, the scores were Paolo $4,400 Hebah $2,400 Steven $1,800.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Paolo 6 correct 0 incorrect
Hebah 3 correct 0 incorrect
Steven 5 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Hebah studies childrens’ horror.
Steven originally was forced into band by his family.
Paolo purchased some games magazines owned by Stephen Sondheim.
Paolo had some high-value correct responses to hold onto the lead after 30, despite a judges’ ruling that is not going to play well at all online today.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Paolo 9 correct 1 incorrect
Steven 15 correct 3 incorrect
Hebah 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Paolo $5,000
Steven $4,600
Hebah $2,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Bronze Age; Villains In Lit; 14-Letter Words; Let’s Go To The Park; Album Title Adjectives; Your Prime Number’s Up)
Steven found both Daily Doubles, pickup up just $6,000 on them and leaving a lot of money on the table, which gave Paolo space to go on a run at the end of the round to ensure that this game wasn’t a runaway going into Final. Will things work out for him for the second time this week?
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Steven 26 correct 6 incorrect
Paolo 16 correct 2 incorrect
Hebah 8 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Steven $17,400
Paolo $9,800
Hebah $4,600
Paolo was correct in Final, putting the pressure on Steven. But Steven was correct as well, and is your new champion! He’ll be back Monday to defend.
Tonight’s results:
Hebah $4,600 – $2,000 = $2,600 (What is Canada?)
Paolo $9,800 + $7,601 = $17,401 (What is Kazakhstan? (I liiiiike!))
Steven $17,400 + $2,202 = $19,602 (What… Kazakhstan?) (1-day total: $19,602)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) QUICK CHEM $1000 (clue #15)
Steven 800 +1000 (Paolo 4400 Hebah 2400)
2) LET’S GO TO THE PARK $1600 (clue #6)
Steven 7800 +4000 (Paolo 5000 Hebah 600)
3) YOUR PRIME NUMBER’S UP $2000 (clue #16, $13200 left on board)
Steven 13400 +2000 (Paolo 6200 Hebah 2600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 166
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Paolo 4 4 5 5 3 3 4
Steven 4 3 5 4 5*
Hebah 1 3 3
DJ! Round:
Paolo 4
Steven 3 4 4 3 4* 3 5 2 5 3 5 4 5*
Hebah 1 2
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Steven 3.94
Paolo 4.00
Hebah 2.00
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:
Steven $15,000 Coryat, 26 correct, 6 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Paolo $9,800 Coryat, 16 correct, 2 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Hebah $4,600 Coryat, 8 correct, 2 incorrect, 15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $29,400
Lach Trash: $14,000 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,600
Lead Changes: 5
Times Tied: 4
Player Statistics:
Paolo Pasco, career statistics:
200 correct, 12 incorrect
10/10 on rebound attempts (on 30 rebound opportunities)
39.91% in first on buzzer (182/456)
10/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $25,600)
6/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $20,250
Steven Olson, career statistics:
27 correct, 6 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,000
Hebah Uddin, career statistics:
8 correct, 3 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $4,600
Steven Olson, to win:
2 games: 61.990%
3: 38.428%
4: 23.821%
5: 14.767%
6: 9.154%
Avg. streak: 2.631 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Pretty much any gamer in the last 28 years has just called the video game Goldeneye. In my opinion, not accepting just Goldeneye for the video game was a poor decision by the judges that failed to take into account actual common usage. Thankfully, this is a purely academic debate at this point; had the judges ruled in Paolo’s favor, it would not even change the wagering scenario in Final Jeopardy. For what it’s worth, accepting just Goldeneye would be equivalent to accepting Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn without The Adventures Of… in front, which has occurred innumerable times in the history of the show.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Steven $17,400 Paolo $9,800 Hebah $4,600)
Paolo: To have any chance of victory, you need to bet at least $5,400. (Actual bet: $7,601)
Steven: Standard cover bet is $2,201. (Actual bet: $2,202)
Hebah: Paolo’s minimum bet is $5,400. If you limit your own bet to $200, you have the best chance of finishing second. (Actual bet: $2,000)
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Andy…so true about spelling…that darn “h”
BTW…Anybody remember when they accidentally played Borat’s comical version of the Kazakh national anthem at an international sport event in Kuwait?
Would omitting the “h” render a response incorrect?
I thought spelling generally didn’t count, as long as it was understandable.
Kazakstan, Kazacstan, Cazakstan, even Kasakstan seem like they should all be fine to me.
I said France, having a city named Nice and having a reputation for being rude.
I thought the same thing. Never saw the Borat movie so I was clueless to the clues.
I also said France because of the musical number from “The Boy Friend ” called “It’s Nicer in Nice”.
My comment is simply this; why do these country’s add an “H” to their country names, let alone a few religions adding an “H” to words and names when the “H” sound is not detectable. I imagine that I will get in trouble for commenting like this. It’s only an observation.
Do you mean like the fact that Sarah and Sara are pronounced the same?
You do realize that making a comment like this and then adding “just an observation” at the end doesn’t mean you didn’t make the comment… right?
I think the rest of the community will do a fine job in telling you how your comment here may have been a slight misstep.
I love that you knew you were being ignorant when writing this, had enough self-awareness to know it, and still went through with it.
“These countries” do not add an “h” to their names. The “kh” in the ENGLISH version of the name of Kazakhstan is there because the “kh” best approximates the Cyrillic letter “X” in the former Soviet republic’s name (in Russian) has a guttural sound when pronounced. The “h” in Sikh has a similar explanation, with the “h” in the ENGLISH word “Sikh” corresponding to a Punjabi letter.
Andy calling the fatigue factor due to the final game of the long taping day. But give Steven the credit he deserves to be the giant killer.
Sad to see Paolo go, but I look forward to his return in February!
Without having actually watched Borat, that factoid could be hard to remember. Luckily, I have watched it.