Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 23, 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 Authors) for Tuesday, December 23, 2025 (Season 42, Game 77):
Before his sudden death in 2004, this journalist & author was researching the unsolved assassination of PM Olof Palme
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Michelle Tsai, a tutor originally from Honolulu, Hawai’i
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Molly Murray, an English professor from New York, New York
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Bob Callen, a retired librarian from Lexington, Kentucky
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
As we progress through Second Chance, our second set of semifinalists in Week 2 are Bob Callen, Molly Murray, and Michelle Tsai. Bob—whose original game will be the weekend rerun next weekend—came within a Final Jeopardy of defeating Liam Starnes. Molly was the victim of a stunning late run in Double Jeopardy by ToCer Allegra Kuney, while Michelle had 22 correct and lost to a rare strategic choice from Dan Moren in Final Jeopardy. One thing that’s important to remember, though: Molly’s game hadn’t aired yet when this was taped, so unless she’d realized it herself between taping and airing, there’s no way Molly could get public feedback about her first appearance before this game.
Meanwhile, today is Day #2 of my recap being separated into two parts—with the “Daily Details” being a separate post available only to logged-in members of TJF Plus. One thing that I have deliberately chosen to do, though—any discussion I do about Final Jeopardy strategy will generally stay in the main post itself, because I want that information to be available to as many people as possible. (I don’t ever want to hear a situation where a contestant missed important information about Final Jeopardy betting before their appearance because I’d put it behind a login wall.)
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Stieg Larsson?
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.)
Stieg Larsson, best known today for the posthumously published Millennium trilogy—which began with his now world-famous The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo—had been well-known in Sweden for decades for his journalism that researched and exposed right-wing racism within Sweden. At the age of 50, he passed away from a heart attack, with his Millennium series only 3 works complete (out of the 10 he had intended to write.)
Olof Palme was serving as Prime Minister of Sweden when he was assassinated in 1986; the identity of the assassin is still unknown, but the case has also been closed by Swedish authorities.
In terms of how difficult I think this will play? I think it will rely on knowing that Olof Palme was Swedish; knowing that will make this much easier. He has come up over the years on the show; to that end, the “flashcard & memorize J! Archive crowd” should find this one to be of reasonable difficulty.
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Game Recap:
Michelle Tsai got off to a very strong start in this one, taking the lead on the game’s third clue, doubling up through the Daily Double on clue #6, and taking a big lead thanks to getting at least 3 correct responses in four different categories on the opening board. The second board saw Michelle continue her strong play, with a hiccup on the last Daily Double making sure that Molly still had something to play for. Meanwhile, Bob struggled in Double Jeopardy to the point where he wasn’t around for Final.
Final Jeopardy saw both Molly and Michelle correct in Final Jeopardy, and that saw Michelle through to the final later this week.
Scores going into Final:
Michelle $22,800
Molly $13,200
Bob -$1,800
Tonight’s results:
Bob -$1,800 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Molly $13,200 + $13,200 = $26,400 (Who is Stieg Larsson?)
Michelle $22,800 + $3,601 = $26,401 (Who is Larsen?) (Finalist)
Chances of winning Second Chance:
Guy Branum 26.784%
Michelle Tsai 38.885%
Aaron Himmel 8.578%
Andrew Wang 16.507%
Melanie Hirsch 9.246%
Andy’s Thoughts:
- As has been explicitly reminded by Ken on-air now for the second time this month: failing to phrase is a reminder/warning in the opening round, and only a penalty in the Double Jeopardy round. This has been the rule for decades.
- Misspellings in Final Jeopardy are allowed as long as the pronunciation does not change; in Michelle’s case, it does not.
- I’ll be honest: the “unscrambling proverbs” hurts my brain, but that doesn’t make it any less valid of a category.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Michelle $22,800 Molly $13,200 Bob -$1,800)
Bob: (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Molly: You have to be correct to win. Go all in to force a cover bet out of Michelle. (Actual bet: $13,200)
Michelle: Standard cover bet is $3,601. (Actual bet: $3,601)
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