Warning: This page contains spoilers for the October 20, 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 Celebrity Authors) for Monday, October 20, 2025 (Season 42, Game 31):
A 1984 trip to Normandy inspired this journalist to write a book that popularized a term for an era of Americans
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Amanda Tholke, a criminal defense attorney from Cincinnati, Ohio
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Nick Petrilli, a casino surveillance manager from Binghamton, New York
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Dargan Ware, an attorney & writer from Bessemer, Alabama (1-day total: $26,200)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Dargan Ware had a very strong game on Friday, picking up 28 correct responses, including 18 in Double Jeopardy, to have over $35,000 going into Final Jeopardy. Today, he defends his title for the first time against Nick Petrilli and Amanda Tholke. Interestingly, Nick is from a market (Binghamton) that is affected by Monday Night Football; if you’re in Nick’s neck of the woods, know that Monday Night Football is causing your local station to air tonight’s Jeopardy! at 5:30.
Back to the game at hand, though: Dargan picked up 5 of the 6 $2,000 clues in Friday’s Double Jeopardy round; I think this in of itself will make the Alabaman a very tough out. I would say that there is a slightly higher than normal chance of seeing unplayed clues today, because there is a guest-presented baseball category in the opening round. However, strong players like Dargan do tend to have quicker games, which should hopefully counteract that.
One further point when it comes to site operation: Over the next two to three weeks, as the sunrise time becomes later in St. John’s and the opening tee times on our golf courses become later and later, there is an increasing chance of my morning round of golf not leaving me with enough time to update the site immediately at 12:30 PM Eastern with results. Thus, regular readers should consider this to be a blanket “recaps may be delayed by 30 minutes” warning until November 10.
Furthermore, this is a reminder to all of my Canadian readers that you should never use Purolator Courier for any of your delivery needs. They are easily the worst delivery service in Canada, as they are completely incapable of making deliveries to the correct address.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Tom Brokaw?
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.)
While serving as the anchor of NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw made a trip to Normandy for the 40th anniversary of D-Day in 1984. When there, he was inspired to interview many American World War II veterans, leading to his 1998 book The Greatest Generation, detailing the generation born between 1901 and 1927 that made up the majority of the enlistees of World War II.
An important point that Brokaw made in this book, which puts Final Jeopardy today squarely in the “this is something we should know in 2025″ pile”: these people fought fascism, not for any sort of recognition or fame, but because it was the right thing to do. Because fighting fascists is the right thing to do.
I think that this will probably play easier for the home audience, who will have likely remembered Brokaw’s book; unless you know, it’s certainly going to be difficult to get yourself away from someone like Hunter S. Thompson.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, October 20, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Everything’S Coming Up Roses; Book Title Adjectives; Pumpkin Carving; Animals; Automotive Options; Postseason Heroes With MLB On FOX)
Dargan got off to a good start, but our two challengers pulled back close thanks to the baseball category. At the break, the scores were Dargan $3,800 Amanda $2,800 Nick $2,400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Dargan 5 correct 0 incorrect
Amanda 5 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 3 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Amanda lost nicknaming rights to one of her children in a fantasy football league.
Nick has seen everything possible in his job.
Dargan was paid $10/volume by his grandmother to read the encyclopedia.
Nick found the Daily Double, but found his score dropping back to $0. Dargan led after 30.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Dargan 10 correct 2 incorrect
Amanda 8 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 7 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Dargan $6,400
Amanda $3,600
Nick $1,000
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Library Of Alexandria; This Is A Holdup…! Movie; Kings & Queens; A Few Clues About A Word; Bury Me Not; On The Lone Prairie)
Amanda found DD2, dropping $2,000. Dargan picked up just $4,800 on DD3, which gave Amanda just enough of an opening to ensure the game wasn’t a runaway on the round’s final clue.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Dargan 22 correct 5 incorrect
Amanda 17 correct 1 incorrect
Nick 12 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Dargan $21,200
Amanda $10,800
Nick $4,200
Nick and Dargan were correct in Final; Dargan is now a 2-day champion! He’ll go for #3 tomorrow.
Tonight’s results:
Nick $4,200 – $0 = $4,200 (Who is… Brokaw? <3 Michaela)
Amanda $10,800 – $10,800 = $0 (Who is Dan Rathers <3 Ellie)
Dargan $21,200 + $401 = $21,601 (Who is Brokaw) (2-day total: $47,801)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) AUTOMOTIVE OPTIONS $800 (clue #17)
Nick 2800 -2800 (Dargan 3800 Amanda 2800)
2) THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA $2000 (clue #13)
Amanda 6400 -2000 (Dargan 11600 Nick 3400)
3) BURY ME NOT $1200 (clue #17, $10000 left on board)
Dargan 15200 +4800 (Nick 4200 Amanda 4400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -100
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Dargan 3 4 3 4 3 4 5 3
Nick 5 4 3 4*
Amanda 5 5 2 1 2
DJ! Round:
Dargan 3 3 3 4 3 5 3*
Nick 4 5 4 5 3 4
Amanda 5 4 5* 2†
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Dargan 3.53
Nick 4.10
Amanda 3.44
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.19 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Dargan $17,600 Coryat, 22 correct, 5 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 0/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Nick $7,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 4 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Amanda $12,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 1 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $37,400
Lach Trash: $6,400 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $10,200
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Dargan Ware, career statistics:
51 correct, 7 incorrect
0/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
43.86% in first on buzzer (50/114)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $15,200)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,000
Nick Petrilli, career statistics:
12 correct, 5 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,800)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,000
Amanda Tholke, career statistics:
17 correct, 2 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,800
Dargan Ware, to win:
3 games: 62.178%
4: 38.661%
5: 24.039%
6: 14.947%
7: 9.294%
Avg. streak: 3.644 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Dargan $21,200 Amanda $10,800 Nick $4,200)
Dargan: Standard cover bet is $401. (Actual bet: $401)
Nick: Bet no more than $3,399 and take second if Amanda is incorrect. (Actual bet: $0)
Amanda: Bet at least $10,001 to have any chance of victory. (Actual bet: $10,800)
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Andy…loved your comments on fighting fascism…
It boggles the mind that when DJT was running for office, he managed to fill
a stage with Medal of Honor winners…endorsing him!! Did they forget what we fought against, and what America has stood for?
Misread the clue and thought, well that’s easy, it’s “What is the Greatest Generation”. But even if I had read it correctly, I would have gotten it wrong and guessed Dan Rather.
and in retrospect, I’m glad Dan Rather wasn’t the correct answer because Amanda would have still lost, but it would have been ‘worse’ because an extra ‘s’ cost her.
I applaud you with having your priorities straight. Enjoy your golf, and may the weather cooperate.
I did not realize that there were those that played golf daily. Have a good time Andy. In t he meantime, my father did fight in Europe during WWII. As it was, he was of the Greatest Generation…born in 1917…and was 26 went that war ended…one of the “older” guys that were fighting in that war.
I instantly knew that it was talking about “The Greatest Generation”, could picutre the journalist’s face and voice, but could not remember for the life of me his name. Disapointing miss to start the week.
Fox will be broadcasting tonight’s ALCS Game 7, preempting Jeopardy! in some markets. Not sure when the decision was made, but my DVR (in the Baltimore area) still shows the prior programming schedule with J! at 7pm.
For a moment I thought the answer was Tom Wolfe, who also contributed a generational term or two to the lexicon, but then I remembered the correct response.
Easy get (for me, with the usual qualifiers), although I did not read the book.
I do recommend Citizen Soldiers (Ambrose). I’m sure there are dozens of other worthwhile entries on the incredible sacrifices from that generation.
And, recognizing the jaw-dropping sacrifices of that generation, there is the danger of over-romanticizing that time. The U.S. was also marked by jingoism, racism, internment camps . . . society, then and now and in the future, is complicated.
“What’s past is prologue.”
Pretty easy when both of your parents are part of that generation and both did their part in WW2. I have my father’s Purple Heart and Bronze Star as mementos of his contribution to the war effort. He was in the European Theater of War while my uncle was in the Pacific. Both of my parents as well as my uncle are buried in the National Cemetery. I suspect this final may have been easier for my cohort than some younger cohorts.
I’m watching on Hulu, and recently decided to do a “1 current and one vintage Jennings” watching regimen. Ken Jenning’s second episode and Dargan Ware’s second episode share a correct response. From Ken’s show, it was in the category The First Wives Club. From Dargan’s, it was in Bury Me Not.
I guessed Pierre Salinger based on the French part of the question. I read too much into the clue.
Nice win # 2 for Dargan. 🙂