Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 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 17th Century Names) for Tuesday, November 18, 2025 (Season 42, Game 52):
He turned 30 in the first year of the 17th century & had notions that planets don’t move with constant speed along their orbits
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Tony Antoniades, a teacher from Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Lydia Boshart, an aspiring linguist from Raleigh, North Carolina
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Harrison Whitaker, a researcher originally from Terre Haute, Indiana (5-day total: $160,999)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
In terms of performance in one’s first five games, in metrics ranging from correct responses to money won, Harrison Whitaker is among the top 25 champions in the show’s history. He’s the first player qualified for the 2027 Tournament of Champions having won his fifth game yesterday, but the question currently on everyone’s mind now is how long his run will last. Certainly, today’s challengers in Lydia Boshart and Tony Antoniades are going to hope the answer is “5 wins” for Harrison. (In case you missed it, yesterday I released a pair of articles: the first one reporting on the entire postseason field for the 2025–26 postseason starting on December 15, the second being a pre-taping preview of the Tournament of Champions itself; the tournament being taping today for airing beginning January 19, 2026.)
In going through today’s J!6 clues, I noticed that one of today’s Double Jeopardy categories is “At The Jim Henson Creature Shop”. I assume this is going to be a “guest-presented” category, or what an acquaintance of mine recently referred to as a “crossover category”, because it is essentially a crossover between Jeopardy! and another media franchise. And that acquaintance—who I should point out is younger than I am—made sure to mention to me that his favorite Jeopardy! categories were the “crossover” categories, specifically pointing out a recent category featuring Phineas & Ferb. That brings me to my point, especially considering the recent complaints on Facebook regarding those categories. To the diehards who are more likely to complain about such things: You are not the target audience for these categories. What these categories do is introduce the Jeopardy! brand to fans of these other media properties, who see their favorite characters do a Jeopardy! category and then might get introduced to the show itself. And it’s those fans who will become the diehard fans of the next generation and will ensure there is still a Jeopardy! for everyone to enjoy when the current generation of diehards is in the grave. Thus, I will say that even though there are hundreds of fans who might take to social media to decry these categories, those fans are not taking the best interests of the show into account, and the show should absolutely not listen to the complaints.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Johannes Kepler?
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.)
Although born in 1571 (remember, if there’s a year and a number, do the math!), German polymath Johannes Kepler is well-known today for his laws of planetary motion, described in the early 17th century, correctly stating that planets have elliptical orbits (compared to the circular orbits posited by Copernicus) and that a planet’s velocity is related to its distance away from the Sun itself.
If I’m not mistaken, I think this is the fifth time that Kepler has shown up in the Final Jeopardy Round alone in the decade since I’ve been the sole writer here at The Jeopardy! Fan; that said, it’s sometimes hard to tell how a clue is going to play amongst the players. I’d like to hope that it goes at least 2-for-3, though.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, November 18, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Ex-Presidents; Say Yes To The Dress Code; Broadway Musicals By Song; Strait; Flush; “Full” House)
Harrison went all in on a Daily Double, but fell back to $0, just before the break, meaning Tony was the only one with money as the show went to commercial. (He had $2,600.)
Statistics at the first break (14 clues):
Tony 4 correct 0 incorrect
Lydia 1 correct 1 incorrect
Harrison 7 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Tony received a Jeopardy!-themed birthday present at the age of 50.
Lydia writes mock Jeopardy games, including a “Clue Crew”-style category at Yellowstone.
Harrison once worked as a bouncer for a company owned by Princess Beatrice.
Lydia picked up a half-dozen correct after the break to lead after 30.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Lydia 7 correct 2 incorrect
Harrison 14 correct 2 incorrect
Tony 6 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Lydia $4,000
Harrison $2,600
Tony $2,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: State Animals; Treacherous Words; Artistic Endeavors; Tech Schools; All Kinds Of Literature; At The Jim Henson Creature Shop)
Harrison, in the negatives early in the round, rebounded an incorrect response from Lydia, then picked up $2,000 from a Daily Double. Lydia had a shot for the lead on DD3, but an incorrect response dropped her to third going into Final, as Harrison held a slim lead over Tony.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Harrison 24 correct 5 incorrect
Tony 15 correct 3 incorrect
Lydia 13 correct 6 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Harrison $11,400
Tony $10,800
Lydia $1,250
Lydia and Harrison were correct in Final, making Harrison a 6-day champion! He’ll get to defend tomorrow.
Tonight’s results:
Lydia $1,250 + $1,250 = $2,500 (Who is Kepler? <3 J!AD)
Tony $10,800 – $8,299 = $2,501 (Who is Galileo?)
Harrison $11,400 + $10,201 = $21,601 (Who is Kepler?) (6-day total: $182,600)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) STRAIT $800 (clue #14)
Harrison 4800 -4800 (Lydia 0 Tony 2600)
2) ALL KINDS OF LITERATURE $1200 (clue #6)
Harrison 1000 +2000 (Lydia 5200 Tony 5600)
3) STATE ANIMALS $2000 (clue #19, $8800 left on board)
Lydia 5600 -5550 (Harrison 9400 Tony 7200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -99
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Harrison 3 3 4 3 3 4 5 3 4*
Lydia 5
Tony 5 2 1 5
DJ! Round:
Harrison 3* 4 4 3 5 3 2 2† 4 2
Lydia 4 3 2 5*
Tony 5 4 5 5 3
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Harrison 3.37
Tony 3.89
Lydia 3.80
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.12 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Harrison $15,400 Coryat, 24 correct, 5 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Tony $10,800 Coryat, 15 correct, 3 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Lydia $6,800 Coryat, 13 correct, 6 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,000
Lach Trash: $6,200 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $14,800
Lead Changes: 7
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Harrison Whitaker, career statistics:
177 correct, 16 incorrect
10/11 on rebound attempts (on 25 rebound opportunities)
47.08% in first on buzzer (161/342)
8/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,400)
6/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $24,867
Lydia Boshart, career statistics:
14 correct, 6 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,550)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,800
Tony Antoniades, career statistics:
15 correct, 4 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,800
Harrison Whitaker, to win:
7 games: 69.451%
8: 48.234%
9: 33.499%
10: 23.266%
11: 16.158%
Avg. streak: 8.273 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Harrison $11,400 Tony $10,800 Lydia $1,250)
Harrison: Standard cover bet is $10,201. (Actual bet: $10,201)
Lydia: Your best hope of victory is with an overbet from Tony and a miss/cover from Harrison. Bet between $0 and $49. (Actual bet: $1,250)
Tony: Bet between $1,201 (in case Harrison makes a small bet) and $8,299 (keeping Lydia locked out). (Actual bet: $8,299)
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My mind went right to 1571 – and I had nothing. So went with Copernicus – who was a century too early.
Although I was unsure of the dates, I’ve studied just enough math and physics to know that the laws of planetary motion usually refer to Kepler. Apparently the planets move faster the closer they are to the sun, due to the increased gravitational pull, although I find this a bit counter-intuitive.
Same for me Gregory. I got it.
This Jeff didn’t get it.
I love STEM clues! Andy’s guess it goes at least 2-for-3 was surprisingly accurate.
The year 1571 didn’t ring a bell for me but thanks to previous “Jeopardy!” episodes and “The Big Bang Theory,” I knew that Kepler might somehow be involved in planetary motion so I went with that.
Nice close game win for Harrison. That was a bit of a change of pace from his previous runaways but made for a great win. Glad to see the current champ continue in what was an exciting game, in my opinion.
I thought I remembered something about Kepler’s name being connected to the idea of elliptical orbits (in the case of Pluto), so that’s who I went with. Probably should make sure I keep up my success rate on space clues just in case 8-year-old MasterDoge somehow gets his hands on a time machine and wants to interrogate me on my success on that topic. 🙂
Au contraire to Robert’s comment, I play in the same online Jeopardy league that Lydia plays in (another regular on this site, WWORDuke is also a very frequent – and very strong – player in that league), so this was a fairly heartbreaking result to see. I know how long Lydia’s been trying to get on the show, and I also know just how strong of a player she is in that league, so to have her not be able to properly capitalize on that strength genuinely makes me incredibly sad, especially when the difference was a single missed Daily Double. I know I’m incredibly biased, and I also know that the odds of this are fairly slim, but I’d love to see her get a Second Chance spot in 2026. She absolutely deserves one.
MasterDoge, I certainly didn’t mean anything against Lydia as I was mostly just being supportive of Harrison. It’s always heartbreaking for anyone to lose with just one appearance as most of the contestants have tried for a long time to make an appearance on “Jeopardy!’ and have their shot. Still, it is the nature of the game that 2 of the three contestants will not return for the next game. Yes, I agree with you that missing out based on the difference of a single missed Daily Double is sad but how many times has that happened; plenty of times every season. Again, the nature of the game. Like you, I was thinking that there is a certain sadness for people such as Lydia who have waited a long time to get on the show and have shown themselves to be great players to have their time in the spotlight be so short. My thought as I watched the show was what a shame Lydia probably won’t get a second chance as she really showed how good she could be, especially, early in the game when she held a lead. I would have liked her to be able to qualify for a Second Chance spot but I have to agree with you that her chances are quite slim. Just to reiterate, I meant no slight to Lydia by my support for Harrison.
No, I completely understand! That’s the most unfortunate thing about regular-play Jeopardy, bar none – the VAST majority of the time, considering how many players end up getting called back after their run, the success of one contestant puts an immediate end to the dreams of the two other players. I’m glad that now we have Second Chance and Champions Wildcard to make that % slightly higher, but even with those, I’m guessing somewhere around 85% of the contestants in this eligibility cycle won’t be called back at all after they step off the stage.
I’m happy to see Harrison succeed to the degree he has thus far, but this result still very much hurt me to see. I’m in a (relatively, compared to the millions of people who watch the show every night) unique position in that not only do I get to see people’s Jeopardy chops before they make it to the Alex Trebek Stage firsthand, but I also have the great pleasure of counting many of these people – including Lydia – amongst my friends. That’s where I was coming from with my comment, but I understand that you didn’t mean any slight to Lydia – my “au contraire” remark was simply referring to the difference in how we felt about the outcome of yesterday’s game.