Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 23, 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 18th Century America) for Monday, February 23, 2026 (Season 42, Game 121):
South Carolina’s second-biggest cash crop in the mid-to-late 1700s was this inedible one named for a land far to the east
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Katie Pach, a marketing coordinator from Chicago, Illinois
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Zach Johnson-Dunlop, a lighting technician originally from St. Charles, Illinois
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Trey Hart, a grant writer from Petaluma, California (1-day total: $24,100)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
We are back to non-tournament Jeopardy! today, with our returning champion Trey Hart returning after a 10-week hiatus. He faces off against a pair of challengers from the Land of Lincoln in Katie Pach and Zach Johnson-Dunlop. Additionally, with the Olympics over, NBC stations return to their normal airtime, and “first airing” returns to being WBBJ in Jackson, TN at 11:00 AM Central (12:00 PM Eastern).
One thing that I think we’ll need to remember is that regular play players generally don’t quite play at the same level of skill as our top-level tournament players do. Thus, I would expect to see the sort of strategic misplays (i.e. Daily Double hunting that isn’t perfect and wagering that isn’t quite perfectly tied to the state of the game) that would stick out at a ToC or JIT level.
(Content continues below)
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Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my Betting Strategy 101 page. If you want to learn how to bet in two-day finals, check out Betting Strategy 102. In case the show uses a tournament with wild cards in the future, there is also a strategy page for betting in tournament quarterfinals.
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Correct response: What is indigo?
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.)
Indigo is a natural blue dye originally obtained from the leaves of plants of the Indigofera genus; it is most commonly used today in the production of denim cloth and denim jeans. Due to Indigofera being native to the Indian subcontinent, the dye gained its name of indigo. Eliza Lucas introduced the plant into South Carolina in the mid-to-late 18th century, turning the dye into one of the colony’s most important cash crops.
This feels like a good American history final to get our viewers back into the swing of regular play, but we shall see how it plays among viewers and players.
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Game Recap:
After 10 weeks of returning contestants who all played the game at a very high level, fans were treated to the sort of game we’ll be seeing more of during regular play, with double-digit numbers of Triple Stumpers, incorrect responses, and some strategic missteps that will definitely spur on some of the at-home viewership to take the Anytime Test themselves to see if they can do better. (Spoiler alert: it’s hard on stage).
Late in this one, Katie Pach could have given us a repeat performance of Alison Betts from the JIT quarterfinals, but she rang in on Clue #30 of Double Jeopardy, a $400 clue that would have given Trey a tie for the lead had he been correct. As it was, Zach had a slim lead entering Final Jeopardy.
Zach and Trey being tied instead of just $400 apart probably would have been more helpful to Katie, as Final Jeopardy ended up being a Triple Stumper. When the wagers were revealed, Trey chose a $0 bet from the second place position he was in, taking victory #2 when Zach went for the large cover-sized bet. He’ll go for victory #3 tomorrow!
Scores going into Final:
Zach $10,600
Trey $10,200
Katie $4,000
Tonight’s results:
Katie $4,000 – $4,000 = $0 (What is tobacco in)
Trey $10,200 – $0 = $10,200 (What is cotton?) (2-day total: $34,300)
Zach $10,600 – $10,000 = $600 (What is Ceylon tea?)
Game Stats:
Trey $10,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 6 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Zach $8,400 Coryat, 15 correct, 5 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Katie $5,800 Coryat, 14 correct, 5 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 5/7 on rebound attempts (on 10 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $24,400
Trey Hart, to win:
3 games: 44.213%
4: 19.548%
5: 8.643%
6: 3.821%
7: 1.689%
Avg. streak: 2.793 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- It will certainly be interesting to see the “I want to see perfect strategy but I also want to see regular play” crowd triangulate the gameplay today.
- It’s a rarer judges’ ruling, but it is consistent with the past: if the judges think the host gave a correct response when a prompt was more appropriate, they will turn the response into a non-event instead of an incorrect one, only taking away the clue value and not making the response incorrect. It is also important to note that the suggestions on Reddit that “the judges should have stopped the game and figured out what the ruling should be. If they decided it should be a BMS, inform Ken and resume the game” are 100% incongruent with the rules regarding permitting responses against game stoppages, as stopping the game to determine that a response should be given a “be more specific” would ultimately give players too long in real time to give a response. Thus, the ultimate outcome has to be the same as what actually happened to be the fairest overall to all competitors—namely, that the response from Zach becomes a non-event.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Zach $10,600 Trey $10,200 Katie $4,000)
Trey: For the best chance of victory, defending against the biggest range of bets from Zach and Katie, you should bet between $801 and $1,399. (Actual bet: $0)
Zach: Standard cover bet is $9,801. If you hate the category and don’t want to cover, the most Trey can bet is $2,199 to keep Katie locked out. A bet of $1,801 would cover Trey’s entire small range from $0 to $2,200. (Actual bet: $10,000)
Katie: You should bet no more than $3,199 here to stay ahead of Zach if Zach bets to cover Trey. (Actual bet: $4,000)
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