Warning: This page contains spoilers for the December 8, 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 Around The USA) for Monday, December 8, 2025 (Season 42, Game 66):
A geological survey published in 1883 said this landmark was “regular in its operations” that “occur…frequently”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Morgan Lloyd, a middle school English teacher from San Diego, California
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Will Riley, an engineer originally from Houston, Texas
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Ron Lalonde, a medical physicist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3-day total: $52,501)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Ron Lalonde, identical twin brother of superchampion Ray Lalonde, is now a 3-time champion; assuming the 2027 postseason works identically to 2026’s, Ron is guaranteed at least a spot in Champions Wildcard. Will he keep winning enough to hit the Tournament of Champions? Certainly, challengers Will Riley & Morgan Lloyd want to add the title of “Jeopardy! Champion” to their own personal list of accomplishments.
We are also one week away from the beginning of postseason play, starting with Second Chance next Monday. Along with that, this is another reminder that beginning this weekend, registration will be required in order to see some portions of the website going forward. (At this point, that is likely to be anything that isn’t a breaking news item or the main information regarding that night’s episode.) Some of you have also noticed that the ability to select text for the sake of copying & pasting has been removed as well; that is a measure I’ve taken to combat content theft, and one that I am happy with. (It’s been interesting to discover who else had been copying my work and was unable to over the past week, and their excuses for why that content of theirs has stopped. For the record: My site is called “The Jeopardy! Fan“, not whatever mishmosh and/or pluralization you’d like to add to or remove from it.)
There’s also been some discussion recently regarding different buzzer accuracy statistics, and I’d like to use this space to shed some light on it. The “in first on buzzer” statistics released here on the website originated in 2004 as my way of tracking how Ken Jennings seemed to be buzzing at will, with the numerator being the number of clues a contestant was in first on (with any Daily Double and rebound attempts removed), and the denominator being the number of buzzable clues heard (57 on a fully played board), with the statistic intended to be a metric of both overall knowledge and buzzer acumen. (The overall knowledge part explaining why stand-and-stare Triple Stumpers weren’t removed from the denominator in 2004.) I’ve since elected to keep the statistic measured the same way as it was in 2004 for the sake of historical consistency and comparison with Ken’s original games (as it might be misleading for me to take stand-and-stare Triple Stumpers out of the statistic now.) These statistics were being tracked well before the show had any thought of releasing its own buzzer statistics. With the show now releasing attempt statistics at 8 PM Pacific each night, it allows for a different statistic to be tracked: their own BUZ % statistic, where the numerator is successful buzzes and the denominator is buzz attempts. It should be noted that if rebounds are available, and the contestant initially tried to buzz on the initial go and on the rebound, multiple attempts are possible on a single clue. (This was determined organically by fans after Yogesh Raut’s first game on January 11, 2023 where Yogesh had more attempts in the Double Jeopardy round—29—than buzzable clues on that round’s board—28.) So, the two metrics track slightly different things, and while I think the show’s metric is slightly better overall, I still track mine for the sake of historical comparison, as the show’s metric is not calculable before January 2022.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Old Faithful?
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.)
Probably the most well-known geyser in the United States, Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park erupts about every hour and a half. (It used to erupt just less than once an hour, but recent seismic events elsewhere in the area have caused adjustments to Old Faithful’s schedule.)
I say this every single time a more straightforward Final Jeopardy clue comes up: clues that will garner a high get rate are crucially important to the overall strategy of Final Jeopardy betting. If prospective contestants only see difficult clues come up in Final, players will stop betting as aggressively, which will lead to a more boring Final Jeopardy round and a more boring game overall.
One final thing that is highlighted by today’s Final Jeopardy category is how the category will sometimes be punctuated differently in The New York Times (today’s page C4) compared to the show’s website (and the show itself); this is because the Times and Jeopardy! have different style guides. Because Jeopardy! has a clue length character limit (in order to fit information on TV screens), it will often withdraw punctuation that might be seen as extraneous, like saying USA instead of U.S.A. in this case.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, December 8, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: World Traveling; Oh, You Shall Football; Bestsellers; Music Terms; “IA”; What Does The Fax Say?)
Will found the round’s Daily Double just after getting out of the hole; he still sat third after 15 clues. At the chat with Ken, the scores were Ron $1,800 Morgan $1,600 Will $1,200.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Ron 6 correct 2 incorrect
Morgan 2 correct 0 incorrect
Will 3 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Morgan had to be rescued off a mountain post-sunset.
Will managed to smuggle a gun-shaped lighter out of Turkey.
Ron works in medical imaging & radiation therapy.
Ron picked up another half-dozen correct to lead after 30; even though it was left until last, there were no Triple Stumpers in the football category!
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Ron 12 correct 2 incorrect
Morgan 6 correct 1 incorrect
Will 7 correct 3 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ron $5,600
Morgan $2,800
Will $800
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Roman Emperors; All Kinds Of Animals; Mexican Americans; Love Connections; Instagram Stories; That Seems Fair)
A back-and-forth Double Jeopardy round saw Will correct on a Daily Double, Ron incorrect on a Daily Double, seven lead changes, and Will leading by $2,400 entering Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Will 17 correct 6 incorrect
Ron 21 correct 5 incorrect
Morgan 10 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Will $10,800
Ron $8,400
Morgan $3,600
Ron and Will were both correct in Final Jeopardy, and that makes Will our new champion! He’ll be back tomorrow to defend.
Tonight’s results:
Morgan $3,600 – $3,600 = $0 (What is the San Andreas Fault?)
Ron $8,400 + $1,199 = $9,599 (What is Old Faithful)
Will $10,800 + $6,001 = $16,801 (What is Old Faithful?) (1-day total: $16,801)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) WORLD TRAVELING $1000 (clue #7)
Will 200 +1000 (Ron 400 Morgan 800)
2) ROMAN EMPERORS $1600 (clue #1)
Will 800 +2000 (Ron 5600 Morgan 2800)
3) THAT SEEMS FAIR $1600 (clue #14, $17600 left on board)
Ron 8000 -4000 (Will 5600 Morgan 4000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 150
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Ron 3 4 2
Will 4 3 5*
Morgan 3
DJ! Round:
Ron 1† 4 5 3 3 4*
Will 4* 5† 3† 2† 4 3 2
Morgan 3
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Will 3.50
Ron 3.22
Morgan 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.09 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Will $10,400 Coryat, 17 correct, 6 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Ron $12,400 Coryat, 21 correct, 5 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 2/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Morgan $3,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $26,400
Lach Trash: $11,800 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $15,800
Lead Changes: 10
Times Tied: 6
Player Statistics:
Ron Lalonde, career statistics:
90 correct, 19 incorrect
5/8 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
39.91% in first on buzzer (91/228)
3/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,400)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,850
Will Riley, career statistics:
18 correct, 6 incorrect
1/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,400
Morgan Lloyd, career statistics:
10 correct, 4 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $3,600
Will Riley, to win:
2 games: 42.573%
3: 18.125%
4: 7.716%
5: 3.285%
6: 1.399%
Avg. streak: 1.741 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Will $10,800 Ron $8,400 Morgan $3,600)
Ron: Bet between $0 and $1,199 and hope for an incorrect response from Will. (Actual bet: $1,199)
Will: Standard cover bet over Ron is $6,001. If you’re really sure that Ron is going to make the small bet, then a bet between $2 and $1,199 best defends against that. (Actual bet: $6,001)
Morgan: You’re going to need to bet at least $1,201 to have a chance at victory today. (Actual bet: $3,600)
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I’m guessing this will be a triple get. But as they say, the ones that you know are the easiest.
Seems pretty easy peasy to me, too. Took me about a nanosecond to figure it out.
and yet…..
When registration comes, do we have to pay in order to register?
No.
All I care about is information about that night’s episode. Do what you need to do.
Knowing that for a geologist, “frequently” may have an unconventional meaning, I guessed Mount St. Helens. 🙁
FWIW, my thought on your response and Morgan’s is that in 1883 even geologists wouldn’t know enough about those two features to make such a statement. If anyone has a rebuttal, I would enjoy learning from it. 😃
Some of you have also noticed that the ability to select text for the sake of copying & pasting has been removed as well; that is a measure I’ve taken to combat content theft, and one that I am happy with. (no, I did not retype that).
The measure is only effective for the opportunistic, rather than dedicated, plagiarists.
Yet somehow it worked at least for now! I have not tried to chase down any fake sites and don’t plan to start now, but would love to know what kinds of excuses they come up with 🙂
Know that I’ve read today’s Final Jeopardy, I understand it. But now that I know what the correct response is, I can’t say definitley if I would hve gotten it, if I hadn’t been distracted when today’s Final Jeopardy was read.
And, now that I’ve read Andy’s Wagering Suggestions, I understand Ron’s wager, that he was hoping Will didn’t know the correct response But when Ron’s wager on today’s Final Jeopardy was revealed, I admit I thought it was too small.
Is no one going to mention the clue about just “deserts”?? I was embarrassed for Jeopardy!
I admit… I was wrong!
Why? There was nothing wrong with that clue. I assume you mean it should’ve been spelled “desserts,” but one “s” is the correct spelling.
Enos is correct. Are you now embarrassed for yourself? [Have you now looked it up and found that the word “comes from” deserves/deserved?]
Yes, I’m embarrassed. I admitted I was wrong… what more do you want me to say??
That’s plenty, thanks. I was just curious if it was a sort of “hit and run” because a lot of people who accuse Jeopardy! of erring do not appear to check back. My old Chromebook will sometimes jerk down the page, so I realize now that I had only seen your original comment and Enos’ reply, so now I apologize.
Seriously? Another Old Faithful final Jeopardy?
Boy do they miss Trebek.
You are really missing out if you don’t read all Andy’s writings above before going to the comment section.
Old Faithful was the correct response on Jeopardy or Double Jeopardy clues in ’05, ’10, ’14, ’15, ’16, and ’19 plus Final Jeopardy in ’23 and ’25.
So that lets Ken off the hook to some extent, since most of those were on Trebek’s watch. But reusing the clue two years apart appears lazy to me.
But the clues were not all the same and though I agree with the idea that just the possibility of a FJ being easy is practically a necessity for several reasons, I feel there is an additional reason for easy FJs, especially one like Old Faithful which can have so many different references about it — that is that a contestant may think an “obvious response” is possibly a red herring and try to come up with something different that could fit the clue, especially if they are setting in third place and responding differently than the “obvious” is probably their only chance at ending high enough to affect the order [like maybe San Andreas Fault here?] if one is then correct and the other two went with the obvious [though this time the contestant being from California may have had more to do with their response choice].
Instant get for me and I am very glad that Morgan’s answer isn’t correct, as having the San Andreas going off regularly would make California uninhabitable. 😛