Warning: This page contains spoilers for the March 16, 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 20th Century Novels) for Monday, March 16, 2026 (Season 42, Game 136):
One of its epigraphs is from Genesis 30, about Leah, Rachel & Rachel’s servant Bilhah
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Andrew Ford, a data scientist from Madison, Wisconsin
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Shannon Thomas, a nonprofit professional from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Jamie Ding, a bureaucrat & law student from Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1-day total: $22,633)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
If you didn’t look at the stats on Friday, you might have thought that Jamie Ding had just picked up a quiet runaway victory of just over $20,000. However, looking at the stats closer, he had 27 correct, a Coryat score of $26,400, and a net-10 correct in the bottom two rows of the board. Jamie is a very strong player who I suspect we’ll be seeing for the next few days at least on our television screens.
One other reason why I think Jamie will go on a run: Princeton University put out something on Friday regarding Jamie’s choice of black and orange (Jamie is an alumnus of the school and wore an outfit matching the school’s colors.) It came across as quite unusual to me, as in my experience covering the show, it takes quite a bit to get an Ivy League school to actually pay attention to Jeopardy!; thus, I think that he might be someone that fans might want to pay attention to.
Today, though, our challengers are Madison’s Andrew Ford and Philadelphia’s Shannon Thomas, who I’m sure will be hoping to make my previous two paragraphs look incredibly silly in retrospect.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is The Handmaid’s Tale?
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.)
The Handmaid’s Tale is Margaret Atwood’s famous 1985 dystopian novel about a near-future society, known as the Republic of Gilead, where a group of “handmaids” are forcibly assigned to produce children for the ruling class. The novel was then adapted into an Emmy-winning television series of the same name.
The best way in to this one is probably knowing that Bilhah was Rachel’s handmaid from the Book of Genesis. I also think this is the sort of Final Jeopardy that we might have seen asked at any point in the last 30 years on Jeopardy! itself. That said, I have been rather concerned for the past few years about the number of people in real life who would be quite happy if the world turned into Gilead—thus, the cultural relevance this book still has is also one more excellent reason to ask about it.
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Game Recap:
This game saw Andrew Ford get off to the best start, but it was short-lived—Jamie Ding picked up just 1 of the first 9 correct, but then 35 of the last 51 to take a commanding runaway lead into Final Jeopardy.
Jamie swung for the fences and would have had over $64,000 had he been correct—unfortunately, he was incorrect and dropped to less than $4,000 today, but he does get to return tomorrow as a 2-day champion.
Scores going into Final:
Jamie $34,000
Andrew $1,600
Shannon -$800
Tonight’s results:
Shannon -$800 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Andrew $1,600 – $718 = $882 (What is Beloved?)
Jamie $34,000 – $30,067 = $3,933 (What is Song of Solomon?) (2-day total: $26,566)
Game Stats:
Jamie $32,000 Coryat, 36 correct, 1 incorrect, 54.39% in first on buzzer (31/57), 4/5 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Andrew $7,800 Coryat, 12 correct, 5 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Shannon -$800 Coryat, 6 correct, 4 incorrect, 14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $39,000
Jamie Ding, to win:
3 games: 65.471%
4: 42.865%
5: 28.064%
6: 18.374%
7: 12.029%
Avg. streak: 3.896 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Jamie’s Final Jeopardy bet of $30,067 is the largest since Matt Amodio bet $37,000 on October 4, 2021—and the largest amount lost in regular play since Matt Amodio lost since Amodio lost $34,000 on August 9, 2021. The record for money lost in one Final Jeopardy in regular play is held by Amodio, $37,000 on August 4, 2021. The record for largest wager on an incorrect response is 44,000—set by James Holzhauer in the final game of the Greatest of All Time tournament in 2020.
- No wagering suggestions will be posted due to today’s runaway game.
- Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.
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