Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 18, 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 4:30 AM Central in some U.S. television markets this week.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category American Authors) for Wednesday, February 18, 2026 (Season 42, Game 118):
She wrote the foreword for a 1971 cookbook sponsored by the Jackson Symphony League
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California (0 wins)
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Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, Nevada (0 wins)
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Roger Craig, an applied scientist originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania (0 wins)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We’re only a few games away from the end of “postseason play” in Season 42; there are just a few games left before we see Trey Hart back on stage defending his title. In the meantime, though, we have a first-to-2-victories final to happen between Roger Craig, Long Nguyen, and Andrew He. All three of our players have been given a relatively close chance of winning by our Unified Prediction Model; this one will definitely be very close. Interestingly, all three of our players were very close in attempt numbers in the semifinals, with all of them at either 36 or 37 “net attempts” (that being “attempts” from the show’s boxscores less “unforced errors”—incorrect responses after a buzz). It seems as if all three players have the knowledge base to make this a very even and well-played final.
I do also want to note that the news broke yesterday that there are no plans for a third series of the UK version of Jeopardy! (the Stephen Fry-hosted version). I can’t help but wonder how the show would have turned out had the American media not been way too much of a buttinsky here and flooded the narrative with criticism about the show not being identical to the American version. I personally enjoyed it for what it was, but it is what it is, I guess.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: Who is Eudora Welty?
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.)
Eudora Welty, best known for the novel The Optimist’s Daughter (winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1973), was a noted resident of Jackson, Mississippi for the majority of her life. While she was generally not of the culinary persuasion herself, she definitely had many friends in the city who were, and she was happy to write glowing praise of their cooking throughout the 1970s. During that time period, she wrote the foreword to many locally-produced cookbooks, including the aforementioned Jackson book as well as Winifred Green Cheney’s Southern Hospitality.
To me, this is the classic sort of clue where I don’t think the show actually expects someone to know this underlying fact, but there are enough clues there—chiefly, Jackson and the early 1970s—that a player at this level of play should be able to piece together a correct response by knowing that Welty was associated with Jackson, as well as the time period of The Optimist’s Daughter.
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Game Recap:
As I thought might happen, this game came down to the Daily Doubles. On the opening board, Andrew picked up $4,800 in the game’s second segment on the first Daily Double. On the game’s second board, Long had a chance to go from third to contention when he found both Daily Doubles; unfortunately, his necessary all-in bet from a distant second resulted in a score returning to $0 after DD3. As it was, Andrew had a commanding, but not runaway, lead entering Final despite Roger having four more correct responses.
Final Jeopardy saw a Triple Stumper, which meant that, thanks to Andrew having a sufficiently large lead, he was able to make a small “cover” bet and take Game 1 of the final. Game 2 goes tomorrow!
Scores going into Final:
Andrew $16,400
Roger $10,600
Long $2,000
Tonight’s results:
Long $2,000 – $1,933 = $67 (Who is Angelou?)
Roger $10,600 – $10,600 = $0 (Who Lee O’Connor)
Andrew $16,400 – $4,801 = $11,599 (Who is Flagg?) (1 win)
Chances of winning tournament:
Andrew He: 65.797%
Roger Craig: 19.384%
Long Nguyen: 14.819%
Chances of 2 games: 35.439%
Chances of 3 games: 44.053%
Chances of 4 games: 20.508%
Game Stats:
Andrew $12,200 Coryat, 16 correct, 3 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Long $8,000 Coryat, 13 correct, 5 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Roger $10,600 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $30,800
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Andrew $16,400 Roger $10,600 Long $2,000)
Roger: You have to be correct, and Andrew incorrect, to have a chance of victory. Thus, you should go all in to force a cover bet out of Andrew. (Actual bet: $10,600)
Long: You need an overbet from Andrew to have any chance of victory. Do whatever you like. (Actual bet: $1,933)
Andrew: Standard cover bet is $4,801. (Actual bet: $4,801)
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