Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 30, 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 Destinations) for Tuesday, September 30, 2025 (Season 42, Game 17):
In 2020 the Pripyat Ferris wheel earned a cameo mention in a N.Y. Times travel essay called “Why Would Anyone Want To Visit” this place
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Curtis Bogetti, a Ph.D. candidate from Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
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Hannah Gómez, a book editor from Tucson, Arizona
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Zach Knecht, a law clerk originally from Spring Hill, Florida (1-day total: $13,401)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Zach Knecht was the only player to be correct on a relatively difficult Final Jeopardy clue yesterday and has become your new Jeopardy! champion. Today, he faces off against Hannah Gómez of Tucson, Arizona and Curtis Bogetti of Kamloops, British Columbia.
Being that today is a Tuesday, I am hoping that we’ll see some postseason format updates from Michael Davies and Sarah Foss on the show’s Substack today; it would be nice for the fans to be able to track “who’s in” and “who’s out”.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Chernobyl?
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.)
“Maybe they’re looking for a glimpse of the apocalypse,” wrote Mark O’Connell in 2020 in a travel article in the New York Times magazine detailing his trip into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a 30-kilometer zone surrounding the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, published quite ironically in late March of 2020, less than two weeks after the start of the worldwide pandemic shutdown.
The city of Pripyat, built to house plant workers, was entirely within the zone and was evacuated in 1986 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The city’s fairground was set to open on May 1 of that year, less than two weeks after the disaster, but never opened. Its Ferris wheel sits unused.
I would say that being able to associate Pripyat with Chernobyl should be relatively straightforward; the only trip-up might be for a contestant who isn’t specific enough and responds with Ukraine instead (Though it could probably be reasoned out that if the show wanted the country, it would have specified “country” in the clue.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, September 30, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: U.S. Geography; Nursery Rhyme Dramatis Personae; Buzzed Words; Dog Breed Anagrams; “P” Is For Pop Song; Sandwiches With Gordon Ramsay)
Zach found the Daily Double immediately; he used that momentum to jump out to an early lead. After 15 clues, the scores were Zach $4,400 Curtis $1,600 Hannah $1,400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Zach 7 correct 0 incorrect
Curtis 4 correct 1 incorrect
Hannah 2 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Curtis was part of a punk rock Roy Orbison cover band.
Hannah has over a dozen fitness certifications.
Zach encountered an Uncle Sam cosplay at a Madrid nightclub.
Curtis battled back to briefly tie the game, but Zach held the lead after 30 clues.
Statistics after the Jeopardy! Round:
Zach 13 correct 1 incorrect
Curtis 9 correct 1 incorrect
Hannah 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Zach $6,200
Curtis $5,400
Hannah $1,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: World History; Space Stuff; Olden Lit; The Righteous Gemstones; Pope Culture Jeopardy!; “Be” Real)
Curtis turned this game on its ear by doubling up through DD2; a protracted search then began for DD3. Curtis—the only player without a clue selection error in the round—found it, picking up $3,000 from the bottom-row clue. While it wasn’t enough to cement a runaway, Curtis did have a big lead going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Curtis 20 correct 1 incorrect
Zach 21 correct 3 incorrect
Hannah 10 correct 1 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 3 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Curtis $26,600
Zach $15,000
Hannah $6,800
Zach and Curtis were both correct in Final Jeopardy; that makes Curtis your new champion! He’ll be back tomorrow to defend.
Tonight’s results:
Hannah $6,800 – $6,800 = $0 (What is Egypt)
Zach $15,000 + $15,000 = $30,000 (What Chernobyl)
Curtis $26,600 + $3,401 = $30,001 (What is Chernobyl?) (1-day total: $30,001)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) U.S. GEOGRAPHY $800 (clue #1)
Zach 0 +1000 (Hannah 0 Curtis 0)
2) OLDEN LIT $1600 (clue #7)
Curtis 8600 +8600 (Zach 9800 Hannah 1600)
3) THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES $2000 (clue #24, $4800 left on board)
Curtis 22800 +3000 (Zach 13000 Hannah 4800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 213
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Zach 4*
Hannah
Curtis
DJ! Round:
Zach 3 4 5 3 4 3 3† 2 2
Hannah 2 2 1 1† 2†
Curtis 4 4* 5 3 4 5 2 4 5 5*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Curtis 4.10
Zach 3.30
Hannah 1.60
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 3 (0.18 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Curtis $18,600 Coryat, 20 correct, 1 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Zach $14,800 Coryat, 21 correct, 3 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Hannah $6,800 Coryat, 10 correct, 1 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $40,200
Lach Trash: $10,000 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,800
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Zach Knecht, career statistics:
39 correct, 8 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (40/114)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $600)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,600
Hannah Gómez, career statistics:
10 correct, 2 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,800
Curtis Bogetti, career statistics:
21 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $11,600)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,600
Curtis Bogetti, to win:
2 games: 67.254%
3: 45.231%
4: 30.420%
5: 20.458%
6: 13.759%
Avg. streak: 3.054 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Curtis $26,600 Zach $15,000 Hannah $6,800)
Zach: Bet at least $8,200 to have a chance of victory. Because that’s the difference between you and Hannah’s score, you might consider betting exactly $8,200 here. (Actual bet: $15,000)
Hannah: Because Zach has to bet at least $8,200 to have a chance of victory, bet $0 and take second if he’s incorrect (and bets any more than that number.) (Actual bet: $6,800)
Curtis: Standard cover bet is $3,401. (Actual bet: $3,401)
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I didn’t know the association cold, but Pripyat sounded vaguely Russian, and “area around the Russia/Ukraine region” + “why would you ever want to go there?” = probably Chernobyl. Good job, me! 😀
Youngster! LOL Great job!
I didn’t see “area around the Russia/Ukraine border” in the clue as posted here.
I’m not sure what you mean by this?
assume Denise thought MasterDodge meant that was in the clue (as opposed to figuring it by the name Pripyat). I’ve seen pictures of that Ferris wheel on websites of different urban explorers.
“Chernobyl” was straightforward for me, but I was not sure if the words “exclusion zone” were needed in the answer. If someone had written “Chernobyl Exclu” before the time ran out, would that have been a correct answer or an incomplete answer?
A friend of mine was born right around 1986, about 300 miles away from Chernobyl, in Moldova, and even at that distance, a number of her childhood friends were afflicted with leukemia…far more than what should be the natural level. The radiation levels should be “safe” around 2040, but I wouldn’t chance it!
Before I retired, I worked with a medical doctor from the Chernobyl area for several years. Prior to our working together, she had treated victims of the Chernobyl accident. Of course, many of those victims were from Pripyat. Because of her, I was very familiar with the area and was able to get this immediately. She was a hero for her work with the Chernobyl victims.
Yet the Russian government still says the official death toll was 31. 🙁
I watched this game Wednesday on Hulu since the time ABC7 Chicago usual airs it was preempted by the Padres vs.Cubs MLB Wild Card Playoff game.
This final was a “If I had known” to me. If had known that Pripyat referred to a city near Chernobyl, and wasn’t an adjective like I thought…
This FJ hit me in the head immediately. I have read up on Chernobyl and Pripyat pretty extensively and in 1986 I followed current events very closely.