Warning: This page contains spoilers for the January 31-1, 2026, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that today’s game is an encore presentation of the game that originally aired on April 28, 2025.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Contemporary Authors) for January 31-1, 2026 (Season 41, Game 166):
At the start of his writing career, his wife told him, if it didn’t work out, at 6’4″, he could be a reacher in a supermarket
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Steve Icsman, a retired teacher originally from Sandusky, Ohio
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Erin Morin, a digital pre-press specialist from Aldie, Virginia
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Liam Starnes, an undergraduate student from Barrington, Illinois (6-day total: $123,584)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Our weekend rerun this week sees fan favorite ToCer Liam Starnes go for victory number seven against Erin Morin and Steve Icsman.
The Tournament of Champions finals between Scott Riccardi, Paolo Pasco, and TJ Fisher begin on Monday—you’ll see my own preview and predictions for that hit the website tomorrow.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Lee Child?
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.)
Lee Child is a British writer who’s best known for the Jack Reacher novel series. At the start of his career, his wife joked while grocery shopping at Asda that if the writing didn’t work out that Lee would be a great grocery store reacher due to his height—inspiring the name “Jack Reacher”.
Lee Child was also a pen name; Renault’s Le Car was often pronounced by him and his wife as “Lee Car”; when his daughter was born, the family started calling her “Lee Child”, inspiring the pen name.
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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the January 31-1, 2026 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Game Recap:
Although things were still close through 30 clues as a result of Erin finding the game’s first Daily Double, Liam looked like he was going to easily pick up win #6 when he doubled up early in Double Jeopardy on the game’s middle Daily Double. Unfortunately, he was incorrect on Daily Double #3 a couple of clues later—and that was enough for Erin to be within striking distance entering Final Jeopardy.
A few minutes later, viewers saw Erin come up with the correct response to Final Jeopardy, while Liam was incorrect—and that makes Erin a Jeopardy! champion! The weekend rerun next weekend will see Erin defend her title against Ben Ganger and Rahel Zubairi.
Scores going into Final:
Liam $25,400
Erin $14,800
Steve $5,400
Tonight’s results:
Steve $5,400 – $0 = $5,400 (Who is Percival Everrett?)
Erin $14,800 + $14,800 = $29,600 (Who is Lee Child?) (1-day total: $29,600)
Liam $25,400 – $4,201 = $21,199 (Who is Jack Grisham)
Game Stats:
Erin $13,200 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Liam $20,000 Coryat, 22 correct, 3 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
Steve $5,400 Coryat, 9 correct, 5 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,600
Lach Trash: $7,200 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $8,200
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 3
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