recaps

Season 42

Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, April 17, 2026

Published Modified

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Current Champion

Matthew Riggle, career statistics:
47 correct, 6 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
41.23% in first on buzzer (47/114)
3/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $7,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,300

To win:
3 games: 68.027%
4: 46.277%
5: 31.481%
6: 21.415%
7: 14.568%
Avg. streak: 4.128 games.
(Next game: September 14)
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

August 12: S42 E98 (January 21, 2026)
August 13: S42 E99 (January 22, 2026)
August 14: S42 E100 (January 23, 2026)
August 15-16: S41 E141 (March 24, 2025)
August 17: S42 E101 (January 26, 2026)
August 18: S42 E105 (January 30, 2026)
August 19: S42 E102 (January 27, 2026)
August 20: S42 E103 (January 28, 2026)
August 21: S42 E104 (January 29, 2026)
August 22-23: S41 E142 (March 25, 2025)
August 24: S42 E106 (February 2, 2026)
August 25: S42 E107 (February 3, 2026)
August 26: S42 E108 (February 4, 2026)
August 27: S42 E109 (February 5, 2026)
August 28: S42 E110 (February 6, 2026)
August 29-30: S41 E143 (March 26, 2025)
(Source: Bell Fibe TV program guide)

All Time Winnings

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Regular Play Only:

1. Ken Jennings $2,520,700
2. James Holzhauer $2,462,216
3. Matt Amodio $1,518,601
4. Amy Schneider $1,382,800
5. Jamie Ding $882,605
6. Cris Pannullo $748,286
7. Mattea Roach $560,983
8. Jason Zuffranieri $532,496
9. Scott Riccardi $455,000
10. David Madden $430,400
11. Julia Collins $428,100
12. Matt Jackson $411,612
13. Austin Rogers $411,000
14. Ray Lalonde $386,400
15. Harrison Whitaker $373,999
16. Adriana Harmeyer $349,600
17. Caleb Groen $346,968
18. Adam Remsen $306,415
19. Ryan Long $299,400
20. Arthur Chu $297,200

All Time Jeopardy! Winnings, Including Tournaments (and Consolation Prizes):

1. Brad Rutter $4,968,436
2. Ken Jennings $4,372,700
3. James Holzhauer $3,614,216
4. Matt Amodio $1,964,601
5. Amy Schneider $1,864,800
6. Yogesh Raut $1,098,403
7. Mattea Roach $897,983
8. Jamie Ding $885,605
9. David Madden $785,733
10. Victoria Groce $773,801
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Larissa Kelly $671,930
14. Matt Jackson $623,612
15. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
16. Andrew He $534,365
17. Scott Riccardi $533,000
18. Jerome Vered $499,102
19. Julia Collins $495,767
20. Austin Rogers $493,000
21. Ben Ingram $449,201
22. Paolo Pasco $448,717
23. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
24. Buzzy Cohen $441,603
25. Juveria Zaheer $441,000

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Are you looking for today’s Celebrity Jeopardy! recap? Find that here!

Warning: This page contains spoilers for the April 17, 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 Opera) for Friday, April 17, 2026 (Season 42, Game 160):

The name of this opera means “Faithful”; it’s used as an alias by a character who implores a prisoner not to lose faith

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Taotao Zhang, a statistician from South River, New Jersey

Taotao Zhang on Jeopardy!

Tini Howard, a comic book writer from Van Nuys, California

Tini Howard on Jeopardy!

Jamie Ding, a bureaucrat & law student from Lawrenceville, New Jersey (25-day total: $702,000)

Jamie Ding on Jeopardy!

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Our big superchampion run continues today as Jamie Ding enters today’s game as a 25-time champion. Looking to stop him from win #26 are Tini Howard and Taotao Zhang; Taotao might be recognizable to many in the trivia community as someone who successfully won—against Victoia Groce, no less—on The Chase after taking the higher offer, to boot. (Taotao is another reason why those people who claim that Jamie is somehow facing inferior competition are completely incorrect. Jamie is just that good.)

I also would like to commend Jamie’s sister Jessie, who, behind the Instagram profile “Attorney General Tso’s” said last night on an Instagram story, “lowkey some of u on jeopardy subreddit are mean so maybe reflect on that”—when I saw that last night, it absolutely made my night.

It should also be noted that Episode 4 of Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars airs tonight at 8:00 (7:00 Central) on ABC (CTV in Canada); tonight’s game is between Timothy Simons, Andy Richter, and Mina Kimes.

(Content continues below)

My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.

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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You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 23 players, including Caleb Groen, Adam Remsen, Tristan Williams and Jamie Ding, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!

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Correct response: What is Fidelio?

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.)

Fidelio was an 1805 opera, famously the only opera of Ludwig van Beethoven, that tells the story of a woman named Leonore who uses the title alias to disguise as a prison guard to rescue her husband, who is serving prison time as a political prisoner.

I have a good feeling that we might see three triple-get Final Jeopardy clues in a row today; this feels like a relatively straightforward Opera clue.

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Game Recap:

In a game that was significantly closer than the final score indicated, Taotao Zhang absolutely took this one to our 25-game champion. Leading when he found a Daily Double early in Double Jeopardy, he took a big swing in a strong category, knowing that Jamie was very likely to score another $15,000–$20,000 himself. Unfortunately for Taotao, an incorrect response dropped him back to $0 and he was unable to recover.

Jamie picked up another $6,200 in the third straight triple-get Final Jeopardy from the runaway position, leading to a $30,000 payday to end the week. Jamie goes for win #27 and another entry on the show’s upper leaderboards on Monday.

Scores going into Final:

Jamie $23,800
Taotao $8,400
Tini $2,800

Tonight’s results:

Tini $2,800 + $2,699 = $5,499 (What is… Fidelio)
Taotao $8,400 + $2,622 = $11,022 (What is Fidelio)
Jamie $23,800 + $6,200 = $30,000 (What is… ♫ Fidelio ♫?) (26-day total: $732,000)

Jamie Ding, today's Jeopardy! winner (for the April 17, 2026 game.)

Game Stats:

Jamie $22,800 Coryat, 24 correct, 1 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Taotao $13,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 4 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Tini $2,800 Coryat, 10 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,800

If you are looking for more detailed statistics about today’s game of Jeopardy!, as well as the ability to leave a comment, make sure to check out the Daily Details section.

Jamie Ding, to win:

27 games: 81.353%
28: 66.183%
29: 53.842%
30: 43.802%
31: 35.634%
Avg. streak: 30.363 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:


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