recaps

Pop Culture Jeopardy

Pop Culture Jeopardy Recap – Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Published Modified

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 2026)
(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 $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

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

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

Here’s the Pop Culture Jeopardy Final Jeopardy (in the category Song Origins) for Tuesday, May 12, 2026 (Season 2, Game 2):

This song grew out of a conversation with Sean Lennon & his friend, who argued that “nothing happened in the ’50s”

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Pop Culture Jeopardy! contestants:

Powered By Double A, Aaron & Amanda

Powered By Double A on Pop Culture Jeopardy!

Presto Strange-O, Matt & Katherine

Presto Strange-O on Pop Culture Jeopardy!

One Baddie After Another, Jonathan & McShane (1 win)

One Baddie After Another on Pop Culture Jeopardy!

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Episode #2 of this season of Pop Culture Jeopardy! features our defending champions in One Baddie After Another, taking on two new challenging teams in Powered By Double A and Presto Strange-O. If yesterday’s performance is any indication, it feels as though our current champions are more than capable of taking the maximum 5 victories; they picked up 32 correct responses, and even an incorrect Daily Double wasn’t enough to keep them from running away with the proceedings.

(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 “We Didn’t Start The Fire”?

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.)

Shortly after turning 40, Billy Joel was in a recording studio when he ran into Sean Lennon and a friend of Sean’s, both 21. The younger pair had just said “It’s a terrible time to be 21”, only to be met with Joel recounting the various issues of the late 1960s (like the Vietnam War). The retort? “You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties.” As a rebuttal, Joel turned the major news items of his lifetime—including much of the 1950s—into his late ’80s #1 hit “We Didn’t Start The Fire”.

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Here’s the recap for Season 2, Episode 2:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: TV Of The 2010s; I Am…What?; AI Slop Gave Me Brain Rot; Cartoon Crush Objects; Producer Tags; Unsolicited Flick Pics)

While it was Powered By Double A who found the Daily Double, this round was a battle between our champs and Presto Strange-O, and it was Matt & Katherine who led through 30. On the opening board, the Baddies went 3/5 in AI slop and flick pics, while Presto went 4/5 in cartoon crush objects and I Am…what?

Today’s interviews:

Powered By Double A met each other when Amanda kept laughing during Aaron’s stand-up set.
Presto Strange-O has been married for 13 years.
One Baddie After Another feels cautiously optimistic after win #1.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Presto Strange-O 13 correct 1 incorrect
One Baddie After Another 11 correct 2 incorrect
Powered By Double A 3 correct 1 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Presto Strange-O 5,800
One Baddie After Another 5,200
Powered By Double A 1,400

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Meet The Met Gala; Spanish & Spanglish; The Voice Behind The Line; There’s Some Horse In This House; Music On Ice; Netflix & Chiller)

One Baddie After Another took over in this round, finding both Daily Doubles in amongst their 19 correct responses as they cruised to a dominant runaway victory.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

One Baddie After Another 30 correct 2 incorrect
Presto Strange-O 19 correct 1 incorrect
Powered By Double A 7 correct 4 incorrect

Scores going into Final:

One Baddie After Another 34,200
Presto Strange-O 13,400
Powered By Double A -1,400

Our pair of Jonathans put the exclamation point on this one with a correct response in Final Jeopardy; they’ll go for win #3 tomorrow.

Tonight’s results:

Powered By Double A -1,400 (By rule, did not participate in Final Jeopardy)
Presto Strange-O 13,400 – 13,331 = 69 (What is Summer of 6)
One Baddie After Another 34,200 + 0 = 34,200 (What is We Didn’t Start the fire?) (Winner)

Current Overall Standings:

  1. One Baddie After Another: 2 wins, 61,400 points
One Baddie After Another, today's Pop Culture Jeopardy! winners (for the May 12, 2026 game.)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) TV OF THE 2010s 400 (clue #7)
Powered By Double A 600 -1000 (One Baddie After Another -400 Presto Strange-O 2400)
2) THERE’S SOME HORSE IN THIS HOUSE 1600 (clue #6)
One Baddie After Another 11600 +3000 (Presto Strange-O 5800 Powered By Double A 2600)
3) MEET THE MET GALA 1600 (clue #10, 20000 left on board)
One Baddie After Another 18200 +4800 (Presto Strange-O 5800 Powered By Double A 600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -48

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
One Baddie After Another 4 5 4
Presto Strange-O 3 5 3
Powered By Double A 2*

DJ! Round:
One Baddie After Another 4 5 3 4* 4 5† 4 4*
Presto Strange-O
Powered By Double A 3 4

† – selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

One Baddie After Another 4.18
Presto Strange-O 3.67
Powered By Double A 3.00

Game Stats:

One Baddie After Another 29,600 Coryat, 30 correct, 2 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Presto Strange-O 13,400 Coryat, 19 correct, 1 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Powered By Double A -400 Coryat, 7 correct, 4 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: 42,600
Lach Trash: 3,400 (on 3 Triple Stumpers)
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 3

Player Statistics:

One Baddie After Another, career statistics:

64 correct, 4 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
50.00% in first on buzzer (57/114)
3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: 8,400)
2/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 28,500

Presto Strange-O, career statistics:

19 correct, 2 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 13,400

Powered By Double A, career statistics:

7 correct, 4 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -1,000)
0/0 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: -400

Andy’s Thoughts:

  • Due to today’s game being a runaway, wagering suggestions will not be posted.

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