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Here’s the Pop Culture Jeopardy Final Jeopardy (in the category Iconic Songs) for Tuesday, June 2, 2026 (Season 2, Game 17):
Scribbled on airline stationery, the words “Belladonna” & “Castanetta” appear in an early draft of this song
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Pop Culture Jeopardy! contestants:
Ert & Bernie, Grant & Matthew
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Snake Juice, No Pulp, Anita & Erika
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Only Howards In The Building, Shane & Nick
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Our second semifinal features Only Howards In The Building (potentially given the #2 seed after their run was cut off, but they were #3 in both points and correct responses) facing off against #5 Snake Juice, No Pulp and #8 Ert & Bernie, who return after 20 correct responses in their first game. Shane and Nick have felt nearly invincible thus far, but any team who can put up 20 has the potential to shake things up here, while Snake Juice was a lot of fun in their run, and it would be lovely to see them in the final as well. I haven’t run any sort of prediction model on these games (Reach for the Top nationals were last weekend and my step counter showed 25,000 yesterday alone) but it wouldn’t surprise me had they been third-favorite.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is “Bohemian Rhapsody”?
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.)
Back in September, Brian Hiatt at Rolling Stone wrote “Bohemian Rhapsody” at 50!… about the iconic Queen song; from the famous section of that song that includes such lines as “Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango”, Freddy Mercury had been brainstorming other opera-related words in pencil on airline stationery, which revealed some of the rejected words: “belladonna”, “castanetta”, and “barcaraola” [sic].
I usually talk about how I felt myself about Final in this section, but I put my own thought process and actions in the recap instead today.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Here’s the recap for Season 2, Episode 17:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Say It Like Keanu; Sound Up!; Internet Questions; Playing Doctor; A Fish Out Of Water Story; Reviewed By Dracula)
The Howards picked up 15 correct, including the Daily Double to lead after 30. Ert & Bernie had a good run, while Snake Juice struggled for the entire first half, not getting in before Clue 18. The Howards got 4 in Say It Like Keanu and Playing Doctor and 3 in Sound Up, while Ert & Bernie got 3 in Reviewed By Dracula and A Fish Out Of Water stories.
Today’s interviews:
Ert & Bernie thinks running out of time in Final Jeopardy is the worst feeling.
Snake Juice, No Pulp are named after Anita Baker and Erika Kane.
Only Howards In The Building thinks SNL should be considered educational television.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Only Howards In The Building 15 correct 0 incorrect
Ert & Bernie 8 correct 0 incorrect
Snake Juice, No Pulp 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Only Howards In The Building 10,800
Ert & Bernie 5,800
Snake Juice, No Pulp 1,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Latinas En La Pantalla; Their Spirit Tunnel Moment; The Olympics; Spell It Out For Us; Thanks For The Memoirs; Na Na)
Five clues in, Snake Juice had their chance, but an incorrect response dropped them back. And then…Ert & Bernie, despite some clue selection missteps, found DD3, went all in, and we had ourselves a game. By the end of the round, we had two teams tied at 22,000 points. In Double Jeopardy, Ert & Bernie got 4 in Latinas En La Pantalla, while Snake Juice got 3 in songs with Na Nas in them, and the Howards got 3 in The Olympics and spelling.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Only Howards In The Building 25 correct 1 incorrect
Ert & Bernie 19 correct 2 incorrect
Snake Juice, No Pulp 10 correct 3 incorrect
Scores going into Final:
Only Howards In The Building 22,000
Ert & Bernie 22,000
Snake Juice, No Pulp 3,600
Watching this one at home, I wrote down my response immediately, clicked forward 10 seconds 3 times to get to the reveal, and I thought for sure that the Howards had the age advantage on this one. It never really works out that way, does it? Snake Juice went for their shout out to Fetty on their bet—an excellent choice—and then waited. Both of our leaders, needing to defend against each other, were then incorrect and went all-in, as Snake Juice, No Pulp are your second pair of finalists. What an incredible game this was.
Tonight’s results:
Snake Juice, No Pulp 3,600 – 1,738 = 1,862 (What that means Hi Mom!) (Finalist)
Ert & Bernie 22,000 – 22,000 = 0 (What is We didn’t start the fire?)
Only Howards In The Building 22,000 – 22,000 = 0 (What is Bard Romance? Uptown Funk)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) PLAYING DOCTOR 1000 (clue #14)
Only Howards In The Building 5600 +3000 (Snake Juice, No Pulp 0 Ert & Bernie 3400)
2) THANKS FOR THE MEMOIRS 1200 (clue #5)
Snake Juice, No Pulp 4800 -4000 (Only Howards In The Building 11600 Ert & Bernie 5800)
3) THEIR SPIRIT TUNNEL MOMENT 1200 (clue #18, 9600 left on board)
Ert & Bernie 8600 +8600 (Only Howards In The Building 20000 Snake Juice, No Pulp 1600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 70
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Only Howards In The Building 5 4 3 4 5 3 3 4 5*
Snake Juice, No Pulp
Ert & Bernie 4 5 3 4 5
DJ! Round:
Only Howards In The Building 4 5 3 3 2 3
Snake Juice, No Pulp 5 2 3* 4 2 4
Ert & Bernie 4 5 5 5† 4† 3*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Snake Juice, No Pulp 3.33
Ert & Bernie 4.27
Only Howards In The Building 3.73
Game Stats:
Snake Juice, No Pulp 7,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 1/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Ert & Bernie 14,600 Coryat, 19 correct, 2 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Only Howards In The Building 20,000 Coryat, 25 correct, 1 incorrect, 43.86% in first on buzzer (25/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: 42,200
Lach Trash: 4,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Lead Changes: 3
Times Tied: 4
Player Statistics:
Only Howards In The Building, career statistics:
120 correct, 5 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 18 rebound opportunities)
48.25% in first on buzzer (110/228)
5/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: 10,000)
3/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 24,700
Snake Juice, No Pulp, career statistics:
48 correct, 6 incorrect
7/8 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities)
22.81% in first on buzzer (39/171)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -2,500)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 13,067
Ert & Bernie, career statistics:
39 correct, 7 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
37.72% in first on buzzer (43/114)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: 8,600)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 13,800
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Honestly here, this episode needs to be the one submitted for Emmy consideration. I found this episode in particular to be both hilarious in Colin’s hosting and incredibly dramatic.
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Only Howards In The Building 22,000 Ert & Bernie 22,000 Snake Juice, No Pulp 3,600)
Only Howards In The Building: You have to defend against Ert & Bernie. Go all in. (Actual bet: 22,000)
Snake Juice, No Pulp: The only bet you should absolute not do is your entire 3,600 score. Anything other than that is A-OK. (Actual bet: 1,738)
Ert & Bernie: You have to defend against the Howards. Go all in. (Actual bet: 22,000)
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One of the best games of Jeopardy! ever!
I’m extremely familiar with the song, but I did not get FJ. Congratulations to the winners!