Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 19, 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 Movie Inspirations) for Friday, December 19, 2025 (Season 42, Game 75):
A store’s mingling of displays of 2 different holidays inspired a poem & years later, a 1990s film with this name
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Eugene Huang, a teacher from Paramus, New Jersey (Yesterday’s total: $6,000)
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Dave Widmayer, a trivia host from Portland, Oregon (Yesterday’s total: $0)
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Pete Johnston, a filmmaker & educator originally from Alma, Michigan (Yesterday’s total: $0)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
After a particularly destructive Final Jeopardy yesterday in terms of scores, Eugene Huang has a small lead over Pete Johnston and Dave Widmayer. Because the scores reset to $0 for today’s game and anything in the main game can be doubled in Final Jeopardy, Eugene has an “effective lead” of just $3,000 over Pete and Dave at the moment. With a lead that small, it is absolutely still anybody’s game entering today.
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Correct response: What is The Nightmare Before Christmas?
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.)
In the DVD commentary for his The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton spoke of his inspirations—the combination of Halloween and Christmas decorations inspired him to write about Jack Skellington, the subject of a 1982 poem written by Burton that was later turned into the 1993 stop-motion film.
This appears to be the easiest Final Jeopardy film of the five this week; it does appear that, as a set, the writers have deliberately chosen to write slightly harder material for the 61st clue, and I’m not entirely sure that I agree with their choice. I think these games still work better with strictly regular-play material, with the harder material saved for the Tournament of Champions.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Friday, December 19, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The 12 Days Of Christmas, In Cash; Historic Americans; Job-Breviations; Broadway; That’s (A Word From The) Italian!; Landform Ho!)
Dave got the Daily Double incorrect, but that didn’t stop him from jumping out to a lead after 15 clues. At the interviews, the scores were Dave $3,600 Eugene $2,200 Pete $800.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Dave 7 correct 2 incorrect
Eugene 3 correct 0 incorrect
Pete 3 correct 2 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Eugene would like to thank his wife.
Dave would like to thank his parents.
Pete would like to thank his wife and parents.
Dave picked up another 7 correct after the break to extend his lead. By the end of the round, Dave had gone 4/5 in job abbreviations and 3/5 in Christmas and landforms, while Eugene went 3/5 in Broadway.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Dave 14 correct 2 incorrect
Eugene 7 correct 0 incorrect
Pete 6 correct 5 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Dave $6,600
Eugene $3,200
Pete $1,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: 19th Century Women Writers; Vocabulary; In London’s National Portrait Gallery; Cop Rock; Ye Olde Science; Pulling Your Wait)
Dave and Pete found Daily Doubles; Dave was more aggressive than Pete was, and that gave Dave the overall 2-day lead entering Final Jeopardy. Over the course of the round, Dave went 3/5 in the waiting category.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Dave 25 correct 3 incorrect
Pete 14 correct 5 incorrect
Eugene 14 correct 0 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Dave $20,000
Pete $13,400
Eugene $11,200
Eugene and Pete were both correct in Final. Unfortunately, Eugene bet $1,000 too little—presumably a math error—and that makes Pete your Second Chance winner!
Tonight’s results:
Eugene $11,200 + $8,600 = $19,800 + $6,000 = $25,800 (What is The Nightmare Before Christmas?)
Pete $13,400 + $13,400 = $26,800 + $0 = $26,800 (What is The Nightmare Before Christmas?)
Dave $20,000 – $8,401 = $11,599 + $0 = $11,599 (What is The Nightmare Before Halloween?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) HISTORIC AMERICANS $800 (clue #2)
Dave 1000 -1000 (Pete 0 Eugene 0)
2) YE OLDE SCIENCE $1600 (clue #8)
Dave 9000 +5000 (Pete 6200 Eugene 5600)
3) 19th CENTURY WOMEN WRITERS $1600 (clue #16, $11600 left on board)
Pete 11000 +2000 (Dave 17200 Eugene 7200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -26
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Pete 5
Dave 4*
Eugene
DJ! Round:
Pete 3 5 3 4 5 5 5 4*
Dave 3 4* 3 4 4
Eugene 4 2 3
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Pete 4.33
Eugene 3.00
Dave 3.67
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:
Pete $13,000 Coryat, 14 correct, 5 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Eugene $11,200 Coryat, 14 correct, 0 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Dave $17,600 Coryat, 25 correct, 3 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,800
Lach Trash: $6,600 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,600
Lead Changes: 3
Times Tied: 1
Player Statistics:
Pete Johnston, career statistics:
77 correct, 18 incorrect
2/5 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities)
35.53% in first on buzzer (81/228)
3/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,750
Dave Widmayer, career statistics:
82 correct, 17 incorrect
8/11 on rebound attempts (on 23 rebound opportunities)
33.77% in first on buzzer (77/228)
4/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,000)
0/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,000
Eugene Huang, career statistics:
68 correct, 7 incorrect
9/9 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
25.88% in first on buzzer (59/228)
1/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$4,000)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,850
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Pete $13,400 ($0) Dave $20,000 ($0) Eugene $11,200 ($6,000))
Pete’s current score: $13,400
Pete’s maximum possible score: $26,800
Dave’s current score: $20,000
Dave’s maximum possible score: $40,000
Eugene’s current score: $17,200
Eugene’s maximum possible score: $28,400
Pete: If you want to play for a Triple Stumper, bet between $0 and $1,800. If not, go all in to force a cover bet from Eugene. (Actual bet: $13,400)
Dave: Standard cover bet is $8,401. (Actual bet: $8,401)
Eugene: If you think Pete will make a small bet, bet between $0 and $1,999 to defend against that. Otherwise, bet at least $9,601 to cover. That said—you fall behind Dave if you do that, so you might as well go all in to both defend against math errors and force Dave to do his own math correctly.(Actual bet: $8,600)
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I bought the CD and DVD. Easy for me. Also a big Tim Burton fan. But this is also one of those if you know it, you know it. It’s not one you could work out from the clue if not familiar with the movie.
I’m 5 for 5 on not knowing the FJ clues and correct responses this week!!!
I made the random guess of “Jingle All The Way”, as I had recalled (at least in my mind) that Jingle Bells was originally a Thanksgiving song.
I thought it was the toughest FJ of the week. Your mileage may vary.
You were correct about the ‘Jingle Bells’ song though it was originally named something else, but I was pretty sure right away that the clue was about ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’. I’m assuming that Dave had heard of it before, but had never watched it. I liked Tim Burton movies enough that I would have watched it once when it was new, but due to having a a daughter who loved it, I have watched it several times.
Man, oh, man……Eugene loses on a probably math error, and seems Dave knew it, too, and and his brain froze up – or his brain was thinking one thing and his hand wrote another.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is one of my daughter-in-law’s favorite movies, especially, a favorite this time of year. The movie has been played many times at my house so it was an easy one for me. Clearly, the easiest final of the week.
Interestingly enough, the person in second place going into final was the winner in every game this week. I have to believe the pressure of being onstage with a time limitation caused both a math error for Eugene and a slip of the mind for Dave. Anyone could have won this game. Pete deserved to win as much as anyone. Congratulations to Pete for moving onto the next stage of the competition.