Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 9, 2026, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game aired as early as 4:30 AM Central today in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 20th Century Literary Names) for Monday, February 9, 2026 (Season 42, Game 111):
In 1950 he won a Tony for Best Play & 18 years after his 1965 death, he would go on to win 2 Tonys for a musical
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Drew Goins, a journalist from Washington, D.C.
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T.L. Cubbage, a lawyer from Dallas, Texas
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Liz Feltner, a law student from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
The Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament returns this week with Quarterfinal #3 between Liz Feltner, T.L. Cubbage, and Drew Goins. T.L. was the “seeded” player here, having won the 1989 Tournament of Champions shortly after having graduated from Southern Methodist University, with his most recent appearance being a trip to the semifinals of Battle of the Decades, while Liz finished 3rd in the 2022 College event and Drew Goins was one of the fan favorites of the postseason leadup to the 32nd Tournament of Champions last season. T.L. not having missed a Final Jeopardy since 1989 certainly is probably the biggest story entering this game, and is probably the biggest reason why he is predicted to take victory today.
This is also a reminder that if you watch the show on an NBC affiliate for the next two weeks that you might have to deal with Olympic preemptions. Check your local listings or Matt Carberry’s Google Sheet.
One thing that I would like to point out: when the show would host “reunion” tournaments in the past, like 2005 and 2014, 2005’s tournament went on for 15 weeks, while 2014’s used five weeks of programming. And nobody complained back then. All Jeopardy! is doing is taking that and just having shorter events for these players every year instead of having really long events.
Also, it should be noted that Ken Jennings currently believes there are no plans to bring back kids, teens, or College Jeopardy—and I can’t really say this is a surprise. People online speak about adult Jeopardy! contestants without regard for the feelings of those players, with many “fans” heaping unsubstantiated abuse on players. (Here’s looking at you, “Dalc Podg”, whoever and wherever you are, and the abuse you happily allow over in your Facebook group.) And, yes, it was that bad for the Teens and College players as well. The bullying of Claire Sattler made news on multiple occasions, while I had teachers and professors emailing me during the last College event thanking me for standing up for contestants who received abuse during that event. The show understandably does not want to put kids through that sort of abuse, which means we as viewers lose those events. This is also your reminder that not every thought that enters your head needs to be placed on the Internet for all to see—you’re allowed to keep some thoughts to yourself.
(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: Who is T.S. Eliot?
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.)
T.S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1950; however, from a musical point of view, his Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats served as the basis for the smash hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats.
I don’t know how this one is going to play: I have to at least predict 1-for-3 here, but there are just so many names you could pick unless you know it cold. That said, the clue does make perfect sense once you hear the correct response. (And, I found the timing of this Final Jeopardy, all things considered, to be hilarious. IYKYK.)
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Game Recap:
This was honestly a much better played game than the depressed scores indicated, as it was the wagering clues that kept the scores down—our players today went 0/3 on the Daily Doubles, each player having lost $3,000.
Final Jeopardy didn’t help our scores either, as it was a Triple Stumper, with T.L.’s streak of 12 consecutive correct responses in the round, dating back to 1989, coming to an end. As he had to defend against the possibility that Drew might double up, he went nearly all in—which, when the scores shook out, meant that Drew ended up being your winner, advancing to the semifinals. While Liz currently holds the third wild card spot, I would say it’s probably unlikely for her to advance.
Scores going into Final:
Liz $6,200
T.L. $5,400
Drew $5,200
Tonight’s results:
Drew $5,200 – $3,600 = $1,600 (Who is Miller?) (Semi-Finalist)
T.L. $5,400 – $5,399 = $1 (Who is Capote?)
Liz $6,200 – $4,601 = $1,599 (Who is Hudson?)
Wild card standings:
Quarterfinal #1: Matt Amodio, $18,800
Quarterfinal #2: Roger Craig, $15,000
Quarterfinal #3: Drew Goins, $1,600
1. Karen Farrell, $16,400, 94.015% to advance
2. Drew Basile, $7,200, 4.639% to advance
3. Liz Feltner, $1,599, 0.002% to advance
4. T.L. Cubbage, $1
5. Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, $0 ($7,200)
6. Eric Ahasic, $0 ($5,600)
Game Stats:
Drew $8,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 4 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Liz $9,200 Coryat, 12 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
T.L. $8,400 Coryat, 13 correct, 5 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $25,800
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I think that a lot of people will just look at the scores entering Final and declare this a terrible game. But I still submit that it wasn’t. If the players were 3-for-3 on the Daily Doubles, holding everything else constant, the scores would have been $12,200–$11,400–$11,200 entering final Jeopardy, and everyone would instead be talking about what a great game this was.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
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