Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 21, 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 Scientists) for Friday, November 21, 2025 (Season 42, Game 55):
In a 1939 letter, he recalled a boyhood experience that inspired his life’s work: petting his cat on a cold winter’s night
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Sarah Wylie, a teacher from Boynton Beach, Florida
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Jamie Kohlmeier, a beer specialist originally from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
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Harrison Whitaker, a researcher originally from Terre Haute, Indiana (8-day total: $218,600)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Despite what some of the A.I. hallucinations might have told you last night, Harrison Whitaker is still your Jeopardy! champion, having won his 8th game after his nearest opponent bet too much in Final Jeopardy. (If you’re a prospective contestant, I would strongly suggest focusing on wagering until you can do it under any conceivable circumstance—because that will be the pressure you feel on the Alex Trebek Stage.) Harrison gets to the end of the tape day, going for victory #9 against Sarah Wylie of Boynton Beach, Florida and Jamie Kohlmeier of Sarnia, Ontario.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Nikola Tesla?
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.)
As a youngster growing up in the Balkans, Nikola Tesla had a favorite cat, named Macak. And on a cold (and dry) winter night in the Balkans, the air was ripe for large amounts of static electricity—and, as one might guess—Tesla was shocked by the cat when petting it. Tesla’s father, normally able to explain the world to his son, was unable to explain the electricity, leading to Tesla’s lifelong obsession with electricity. As he put it, “Is nature a gigantic cat? If so, who strokes its back?… Day after day I have asked myself, what is electricity?”
I think that this clue, as it’s showing up as “Clue of the Day”, needs one more word (Balkan) to prevent the incredibly obvious negbait (whose name I won’t say here, due to the stories about that other scientist’s predilections that have surfaced over the past few years.) I’d be impressed if this clue played any better than 1-for-3.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, November 21, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Lit Characters Go Reality TV; 2 Letters, 3 Letters; Around The Kitchen; The ____; Harlem; Globetrotters)
Sarah missed the Daily Double immediately before the commercial break, ensuring that Harrison led at the interviews; scores were Harrison $3,200 Sarah $800 Jamie $0.
Statistics at the first break (14 clues):
Harrison 4 correct 0 incorrect
Sarah 5 correct 1 incorrect
Jamie 1 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Sarah has been subjected to student pranks surrounding her fear of frogs.
Jamie learned geography from NCAA football video games.
Harrison was pranked into drinking sea water by a P.E.I. tour guide.
Harrison picked up another half-dozen correct responses to extend his lead.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Harrison 10 correct 0 incorrect
Sarah 8 correct 3 incorrect
Jamie 5 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Harrison $7,200
Sarah $1,600
Jamie $800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Spies Like Them; Best Picture Oscar Nominees Of The 2020s; 3-Word Phrases; Geography; Biblical Groups; “O” Pourri)
Harrison held his two challengers to a combined six correct responses in Double Jeopardy, picking up both Daily Doubles along the way and cruising to a runaway.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Harrison 29 correct 1 incorrect
Sarah 13 correct 4 incorrect
Jamie 6 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Harrison $31,200
Sarah $5,200
Jamie $2,400
Harrison saved his best for last to close out the week, both getting a difficult Final correct and picking up $18,800 in Final, bringing him to an even $50,000 for the day! He’ll go for superchampion status on Monday.
Tonight’s results:
Jamie $2,400 – $2,398 = $2 (Who is Schrodinger?)
Sarah $5,200 – $5,200 = $0 (Who is Einstein?)
Harrison $31,200 + $18,800 = $50,000 (Who is Tesla?) (9-day total: $268,600)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) GLOBETROTTERS $600 (clue #14)
Sarah 2800 -2000 (Harrison 3200 Jamie 0)
2) SPIES LIKE THEM $1600 (clue #4)
Harrison 10400 +4400 (Jamie 2400 Sarah 1600)
3) “O” POURRI $1200 (clue #12, $18400 left on board)
Harrison 19600 +2400 (Jamie 2400 Sarah 3600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -17
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Harrison 4 5 3 4 2 5 4
Jamie 3
Sarah 5 3 5 1 4 3*
DJ! Round:
Harrison 4 4* 4 3 3 2 3*
Jamie 3 5
Sarah 5 3† 5†
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Harrison 3.57
Jamie 3.67
Sarah 3.78
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.11 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Harrison $27,200 Coryat, 29 correct, 1 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Jamie $2,400 Coryat, 6 correct, 2 incorrect, 14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Sarah $7,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 4 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,800
Lach Trash: $13,200 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,000
Lead Changes: 0
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Harrison Whitaker, career statistics:
258 correct, 25 incorrect
19/20 on rebound attempts (on 39 rebound opportunities)
45.61% in first on buzzer (234/513)
12/20 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $18,200)
7/9 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,800
Jamie Kohlmeier, career statistics:
6 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $2,400
Sarah Wylie, career statistics:
13 correct, 5 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,200
Harrison Whitaker, to win:
10 games: 70.461%
11: 49.648%
12: 34.982%
13: 24.649%
14: 17.368%
Avg. streak: 11.385 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Normally I’d be disappointed by Harrison’s Daily Double wagering conservatism, but if you consider just how dominant he’s been on the rest of the clues in the game, there’s no point in taking such a big risk.
- Harrison moves to #17 all-time in terms of regular play winnings.
- Today’s double runaway means that no wagering suggestions are necessary.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
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Thinking (correctly) that Edison had passed before then. Also briefly considered Westinghouse who was not happy with Edison showing how electricity could kill an elephant since Westinghouse was a proponent of getting people to have electricity in their homes. So, I went with Tesla.
It may have been a double runaway, but Sarah still found a way to give away 2nd place to Jamie.
I guessed Schrodinger, as in “Schrodinger’s Cat.” Never heard that story about Tesla, although I can picture Elon Musk petting a cat on his lap.
Schrodinger was the only scientist I could think of who could remotely be associated with a cat. I took the bait
Me Too !
It was the first name that popped into my head, but I immediately discarded it as unlikely (or would have just been connected to having had a pet cat, not to that specific circumstance). Then I thought Einstein (energy related) but decided with that hair, he was unlikely to want to call attention to static electricity.
Sorry for being off-topic here, but since we are talking about cats and Tesla…I was thinking…when Elon proposed a TRILLION DOLLAR pay package to the Tesla board, I pictured it went something like this…
I didn’t even think of Schrödinger. After briefly considering Einstein, I was choosing between Edison (not remembering the exact year of his death) and Tesla, and thinking that Edison is a worse fit for SCIENTISTS than Tesla.
Me, neither. My mind went immediately to someone associated with electricity, not someone associated with cats.
LOL
This started as a reply to Gregory, but my computer (or site?) was acting up and after 3 tries at making my name and email “stick” in their boxes, I thought they were both “in” and hit ENTER. After then getting an error for no name, I re-filled it in and hit ENTER again. It didn’t lose it that time, but it lost the connection to the comment I had been replying to.
It WAS a “Double Runaway” – but I guess Sarah didn’t want the extra $1,000.
There was no reason HERE for Sarah or Jamie to bet anything.
I shouted “Noooooo” when I saw her wager!
Good thing for Jamie he kept the 2 bucks!
I mean $1,000 is still $1,000.
I thought I was being very clever in guessing “Van Der Graaf”, namesake of that ubiquitous generator in science class that makes your hair stand on end. But alas, no.
LOL