Today’s Final Jeopardy – Monday, December 15, 2025

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 2026)
(Source: Bell Fibe TV program guide)

All Time Winnings

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Regular Play Only:

1. Ken Jennings $2,520,700
2. James Holzhauer $2,462,216
3. Matt Amodio $1,518,601
4. Amy Schneider $1,382,800
5. Jamie Ding $882,605
6. Cris Pannullo $748,286
7. Mattea Roach $560,983
8. Jason Zuffranieri $532,496
9. Scott Riccardi $455,000
10. David Madden $430,400
11. Julia Collins $428,100
12. Matt Jackson $411,612
13. Austin Rogers $411,000
14. Ray Lalonde $386,400
15. Harrison Whitaker $373,999
16. Adriana Harmeyer $349,600
17. Caleb Groen $346,968
18. Adam Remsen $306,415
19. Ryan Long $299,400
20. Arthur Chu $297,200

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Including Tournaments (and Consolation Prizes):

1. Brad Rutter $4,968,436
2. Ken Jennings $4,372,700
3. James Holzhauer $3,614,216
4. Matt Amodio $1,964,601
5. Amy Schneider $1,864,800
6. Yogesh Raut $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Higher Education) for Monday, December 15, 2025 (Season 42, Game 71):

Merrimack College is one of 2 Augustinian institutions of higher learning in the U.S.; in the news in 2025, this is the other

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Eugene Huang, a teacher from Paramus, New Jersey

Erin Li, a psychiatrist from New York, New York

Erik Nielsen, a voice actor from Hollywood, California

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

The road to the 33^rd Tournament of Champions currently has 59 players with a chance of hoisting that crown in early February: 27 in the next three weeks of Second Chance, with three winners joining 12 in Champions Wildcard, with one winner joining the top 20 in the Tournament of Champions. Our first three Second Chance combatants are Erik Nielsen, Erin Li, and Eugene Huang; all of whom had a very strong performance their first time out on the Alex Trebek Stage.

I should mention that I have chosen to delay the implementation of placing some content behind the TJF Plus login wall, as there are a couple of things I’d like to make sure work perfectly before this implementation; however, the comment section does still require a free TJF Plus registration at this time. This is a reminder that a new login just for this site is also required.

Some mid-afternoon news that I am choosing to include in this section as well, mostly because it felt obvious to everyone anyway: Michael Davies announced this afternoon on Inside Jeopardy! that Colin Jost was officially returning as host of Season 2 of Pop Culture Jeopardy!; taping of that will take place in January 2026.

Correct response: What is Villanova University?

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.)

Philadelphia’s Villanova University made worldwide news in May 2025 as the alma mater of the newly elected Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. The first Augustinian friar to ascend to the papacy graduated from Villanova in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.

I think the show needed to make a more transparent reference to Pope Leo here to work well as a Final Jeopardy at this level, as I think it is much too easy to head down the path of some of 2025’s more negative news items.

In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in late 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.

Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, December 15, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: A Landmark Event; Greek Alphabet Soup; Poetry Time; The Canadian Invasion; “Oy” To The World; A Bottle Of Red, A Bottle Of White)

It was Erik who got their Second Chance off to the best start, finding the Daily Double early and having a big lead after 15 clues. At the chat with Ken, the scores were Erik $5,000 Erin $1,200 Eugene $1,000.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Erik 7 correct 1 incorrect
Erin 4 correct 1 incorrect
Eugene 2 correct 0 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Eugene has a mutual board game friend with the player who beat him.
Erin gave birth to a daughter on Ken’s birthday.
Erik was on Community.

All 3 players played well; Erik still led after 30. By the end of the round, Eugene had gone 3/5 in landmarks, while Erin was 3/5 in Canadians and Erik was 3/5 in poetry, “oy”, and wine.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Erik 12 correct 2 incorrect
Erin 10 correct 1 incorrect
Eugene 6 correct 0 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Erik $7,600
Erin $4,400
Eugene $3,400

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: The World Is Changing; Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers; Science Nonfiction; Not To Be Confused; Relativity; I’m Thinking Of A James…)

Eugene found both Daily Doubles, only getting one of them incorrect; this meant Erik led going into Final, with Eugene going 3/5 in science and Erik going 3/5 in a category about people named James.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Erik 23 correct 3 incorrect
Eugene 17 correct 1 incorrect
Erin 16 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Erik $18,800
Eugene $16,000
Erin $8,000

As anyone could have predicted, this Final Jeopardy turned out to be a Triple Stumper, proving still that it should have been saved for a few more weeks. Eugene made a small-enough bet and is a finalist!

Tonight’s results:

Erin $8,000 – $4,201 = $3,799 (What is ?)
Eugene $16,000 – $7,999 = $8,001 (What is St. Thomas Aquinas?) (Finalist)
Erik $18,800 – $13,201 = $5,599 (What is ____)

Chances to win Second Chance Week 1:

Eugene Huang: 27.228%
Dave Widmayer 15.157%
Evan Argyle 11.471%
Ivanna Lopez 10.789%
Pete Johnston 14.380%
Allison Willard 9.250%
Chris Turner-Neal 11.725%

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) POETRY TIME $800 (clue #2)
Erik 1000 +1000 (Erin 0 Eugene 0)
2) SCIENCE NONFICTION $1600 (clue #13)
Eugene 9400 +3000 (Erik 11200 Erin 6000)
3) THE WORLD IS CHANGING $2000 (clue #20, $8000 left on board)
Eugene 16000 -2000 (Erik 14000 Erin 6800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 119

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Erik 5 4*
Erin
Eugene

DJ! Round:
Erik 4 3 4 3 5 2
Erin 3 5 2 2
Eugene 3 2 2 5 4 4* 5† 3 4 5*

† – selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Eugene 3.70
Erik 3.75
Erin 3.00

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 8 (0.11 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Eugene $16,600 Coryat, 17 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Erik $18,600 Coryat, 23 correct, 3 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Erin $8,000 Coryat, 16 correct, 3 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $43,200
Lach Trash: $3,000 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,800
Lead Changes: 7
Times Tied: 4

Player Statistics:

Erik Nielsen, career statistics:

41 correct, 8 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
36.84% in first on buzzer (42/114)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,300)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,300

Erin Li, career statistics:

35 correct, 6 incorrect
2/4 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (34/114)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,000

Eugene Huang, career statistics:

37 correct, 4 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
27.19% in first on buzzer (31/114)
1/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$4,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,100

Andy’s Thoughts:

• I do want to point out that Yvette Nicole Brown’s Celebrity appearance makes her another Greendale alum to appear on the show.

• Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Erik $18,800 Eugene $16,000 Erin $8,000)

Erik: Standard cover bet today is $13,201. If you really think Eugene will make a small bet, a bet between $2 and $2,798 defends against that. (Actual bet: $13,201)

Erin: Your two best chances of winning comes with bets of either $8,000 (if you think Eugene will bet very small) or $2,400 exactly (this will pass Eugene if he makes a four-fifths bet against Erik and is incorrect and also keeps you ahead of Erik’s total if he covers and is incorrect.) (Actual bet: $4,201)

Eugene: Standard cover bet over Erin is $1. I would actually make this bet as it forces Erin to go all in to pass you. (Actual bet: $7,999)

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