Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 21, 2026, 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 Old Books) for Wednesday, January 21, 2026 (Season 42, Game 98):
This 1653 work includes information on the care & use of proper equipment including lines, floats & rods
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Ben Ganger, an analytics engineer from Goshen, Indiana
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Cameron Berry, a data analyst & college administrator from Brightron, Massachusetts
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Bryce Wargin, a product surveillance coordinator from Kansas City, Missouri
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After a pair of runaway games to open the Tournament of Champions, our third quarterfinal features Bryce Wargin, Cameron Berry, and Ben Ganger—Cameron competing here after having battled his way through Champions Wildcard. The Unified Prediction Model thinks that all three of these players could be relatively evenly matched; while runaways are always possible, especially if one player monopolizes the Daily Doubles, I’d be surprised if this tournament opened with three in a row.
In light of Bryce’s having posted his own statistical analysis in order to help direct his own ToC preparations, I’m not saying I disagree with Bryce’s analysis that he thought he had his work cut out for him due to how he’d performed on the base game material—even the Unified Prediction Model’s data rated Bryce poorly in this ToC field in terms of its “Base Coryat” metric—but Bryce played Daily Doubles as Final Jeopardy as well as anyone in this field did, and that performance has pulled Bryce from a poor score up to at least one that gives him a pretty even chance of victory today compared to his competitors. That being said: do I think there is one “magic bullet” stat that can predict victory? No. That is why there is so much variance involved with the Unified Prediction Model—the Daily Doubles are that crucial in modern Jeopardy!. But it is also good to see varied perspectives on this front, as it does make for better strategic gameplay (and better predictions) going forward.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is The Compleat Angler?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2026 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
A very famous celebration of fishing, The Compleat Angler was a 17th-century work by Izaak Walton, and is now believed to be inspired by Walton’s own experiences fishing on the River Dove in England’s Midlands.
References to this work have shown up at least three dozen times on the show over the years and multiple times in Final Jeopardy—to me, this feels like a reasonable regular play Final, one that is very straightforward for Tournament of Champions-level players.
It should also be noted that because “Compleat” and “Complete” sound identically, a spelling of “The Complete Angler” would be accepted.
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Game Recap:
In a game that saw a number of incorrect responses, Cameron Berry had a near-runaway entering Final Jeopardy, but Final was to mean something.
Final Jeopardy ended up being a Triple Stumper, which meant that Cameron’s lead entering Final was enough to make him a semifinalist.
Scores going into Final:
Cameron $8,800
Bryce $5,200
Ben $2,000
Tonight’s results:
Ben $2,000 – $0 = $2,000 (What is The Art of Fishing?)
Bryce $5,200 – $4,999 = $201 (What is On Fishing?)
Cameron $8,800 – $1,601 = $7,199 (What is The ideal fisherman) (Semi-Finalist)
Chances of winning Tournament of Champions:
Scott Riccardi: 17.968%
Laura Faddah: 3.783%
Paolo Pasco: 14.253%
Tom Devlin: 13.573%
Allegra Kuney: 13.824%
Cameron Berry: 9.037%
Ashley Chan: 2.425%
W. Kamau Bell: 1.645%
Alex DeFrank: 6.078%
Steven Olson: 4.974%
Josh Weikert: 1.968%
Matt Massie: 4.267%
Lisa Ann Walter: 1.146%
Mike Dawson: 2.322%
TJ Fisher: 2.737%
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Cameron $8,800 Bryce $5,200 Ben $2,000)
Bryce: Bet at least $2,000 to pass Cameron if you’re correct and he isn’t. (Actual bet: $4,999)
Cameron: Standard cover bet is $1,601. (Actual bet: $1,601)
Ben: You need Cameron to overbet to have a chance. Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $0)
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