Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 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 U.S. Towns) for Thursday, September 25, 2025 (Season 42, Game 14):
This southern town known for big watermelons is the birthplace of the politicians who were governors of its state in 1983, 2003 & 2023
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Vickie Talvola, a quantitative trader from Jersey City, New Jersey
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Erik Nielsen, a substitute teacher from Hollywood, California
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Steven Olson, a band director from Princeton, Illinois (4-day total: $74,382)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Yesterday, Steven Olson became the 474th player since 1984 to win 4 times on Jeopardy!; today, he attempts to become the 289th player to win five. Today’s crisis alert, though, comes in the form of Vickie Talvola and Erik Nielson; Erik might be familiar to sitcom fans for his role as Garrett on Community; that said, I personally have absolutely no issues with him taking part in the civilian version of the show, even though I’m sure some Community fans would absolutely have thought Erik would be famous enough for Celebrity Jeopardy. He passed the same test as everybody else, and from the show’s perspective, it does actually lead to more publicity, as the inevitable pregame comments about it will lead to the tabloids doing a lot of the show’s publicity work for it here.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Hope, Arkansas?
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.)
Hope, Arkansas, with a population of 8,952 in the 2020 United States Census, is the birthplace of three well-known Arksansas governors, each of who served about a generation apart: Bill Clinton in the 1980s, Mike Huckabee in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and Mike’s daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders currently. Some of the largest watermelons in the world have also been grown in Hope, with some of them ending up larger than 250 pounds.
This is one of those clues where I think watching the show for a long time will help contestants figure out where to guess; the show has asked many times over the years about Hope, Arkansas due to it being the birthplace of Bill Clinton.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, September 25, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Port Is In Session; Song Lyrics Of The Aughts; Prisons; Cooking With Cayenne; Book Character Inspo; Foreign Bodies)
Steven found the Daily Double very early, picking up $1,000 from it and taking a good-sized lead into the break. After 15 clues, the scores were Steven $4,200 Erik $1,600 Vickie $1,000.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Steven 7 correct 2 incorrect
Erik 4 correct 1 incorrect
Vickie 2 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Vickie won a poker tournament playing in her mother’s stead.
Erik was a spelling bee champion in Florida; his name was misspelled in the newspaper.
Steven plays in the Online Quiz League and is teammates with Grant deYoung.
By virtue of seven correct and not being incorrect at all, Vickie jumped into the lead at the midway point of this game.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Vickie 9 correct 0 incorrect
Erik 9 correct 2 incorrect
Steven 9 correct 4 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Vickie $4,200
Erik $2,800
Steven $2,800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Truman Capote’s Black-&-White Ball; Plant Facts; That’s My Philosophy; Word Origins; Beastly History; Before & After At The Movies)
This round went the way of both challengers. Erik jumped into the lead early, but he left an opening when he bet less than half of his score on DD2. Vickie took full advantage, picking up DD3, doubling her score, and ending up with a runaway at the end of Double Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Vickie 22 correct 0 incorrect
Erik 18 correct 3 incorrect
Steven 13 correct 7 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 3 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Vickie $26,400
Erik $12,700
Steven $6,400
Vickie put the exclamation point on this one by getting Final Jeopardy correct; she’ll be back tomorrow to defend her title!
Tonight’s results:
Steven $6,400 – $6,399 = $1 (What’s… Big Melon Town)
Erik $12,700 – $200 = $12,500 (What is Little Rock Arkansas???)
Vickie $26,400 + $7 = $26,407 (What is Hope?) (1-day total: $26,407)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) BOOK CHARACTER INSPO $600 (clue #2)
Steven 800 +1000 (Erik 0 Vickie 0)
2) WORD ORIGINS $1600 (clue #3)
Erik 5600 +2300 (Steven 2800 Vickie 4200)
3) PLANT FACTS $1200 (clue #11, $20000 left on board)
Vickie 9400 +9400 (Steven 2000 Erik 11500)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 241
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Steven 4 3*
Erik
Vickie
DJ! Round:
Steven 4
Erik 3 4* 3 4 5 3
Vickie 4 5 2 3*
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Vickie 3.50
Erik 3.67
Steven 3.67
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 3 (0.21 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Vickie $18,200 Coryat, 22 correct, 0 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
Erik $12,000 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Steven $6,000 Coryat, 13 correct, 7 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,200
Lach Trash: $9,400 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,400
Lead Changes: 3
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Steven Olson, career statistics:
128 correct, 24 incorrect
3/6 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
45.74% in first on buzzer (129/282)
10/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $17,200)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,880
Erik Nielsen, career statistics:
18 correct, 4 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,300)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,000
Vickie Talvola, career statistics:
23 correct, 0 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,200
Vickie Talvola, to win:
2 games: 64.961%
3: 42.199%
4: 27.413%
5: 17.808%
6: 11.568%
Avg. streak: 2.854 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- If there are still 21 players in the Tournament of Champions and only 1 coming through Champions Wildcard, then Steven has qualified already for the ToC. If not, then he may still need to play the waiting game.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Vickie $26,400 Erik $12,700 Steven $6,400)
Steven: In the battle for second, bet at least $6,200. (Actual bet: $6,399)
Erik: Standard cover bet over Steven is $101. (Actual bet: $200)
Vickie: Bet no more than $999. (Actual bet: $7)
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I guessed Little Rock. I got the state right.
Me too. I immediately thought of Clinton, but I forgot about Hope. Getting old.
All I could think of was that huge watermelon on the back of the Allman Brothers’ Eat A Peach album, so I guessed their home base of Macon, GA. Wrong town, wrong state.
Got this one pretty easily. Arkansas was the one southern state where the governor in each of those years was well-known, and I knew Clinton was governor in 1983 for certain, and remembered that Huckabee was also from Hope, so I figured that Sarah Huckabee Sanders likely was as well. Knowing those two facts; Clinton was governor of Arkansas in 1983 and Huckabee was born in the same town as Clinton, especially if you know that Huckabee was governor of Arkansas in 2003, would definitely be key to getting this one, I think.