Today’s Final Jeopardy – December 31, 2018

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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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Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 21st Century Oscars) for Monday, December 31, 2018 (Season 35, Episode 81):

Before she was 25, she became the youngest performer to receive a second Best Actress nomination

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s contestants:

Jan Corsetty, a database administrator from North Potomac, Maryland

Kevin Patterson, a management consultant from Cambridge, Massachusetts

James Rodrigues, a filmmaker from New York, New York (1-day total: $27,400)

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Correct response: Who is Jennifer Lawrence?

More information about Final Jeopardy:

Jennifer Lawrence’s first two Oscar nominations came for the 2010 film Winter’s Bone and the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, winning for the latter. She then received a third nomination (Best Supporting Actress, for American Hustle) at the age of 23. She was also the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016, thanks to her role (among others) as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games films.

Of course, Jeopardy! had no idea that the news was going to break over the weekend, but Jennifer Lawrence is in the news early this week as being one of the A-list stars currently suing disgraced Harvey Weinstein’s company over unpaid royalties.

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Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!

Scores going into Final:
Kevin $12,800
James $10,000
Jan $9,400

Tonight’s results:
Jan $9,400 – $9,400 = $0 (Who is Adams?)
James $10,000 – $10,000 = $0 (Who is Ha Portman?)
Kevin $12,800 + $7,201 = $20,001 (1-day total: $20,001)

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
James $6,400
Jan $3,400
Kevin $1,600

Opening break taken after: 15 clues

Daily Double locations:
1) A FISTFUL OF HEROES $1000 (5th pick)
James 1200 -1200 (Kevin 0 Jan 0)
2) AMERICAN AUTHORS $2000 (7th pick)
Kevin 4800 -3000 (James 8000 Jan 7000)
3) ABOUT A HORSE $1600 (21st pick)
Kevin 9600 +2600 (Jan 8600 Kevin 7400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -127

Unplayed clues:
J! round: None!
DJ! Round: GOING TO SEE AMMAN $400
Total $ Left On Board: $400

Game Stats:
Kevin $14,800 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 28.57% in first on buzzer, 1/1 on rebound attempts
James $11,200 Coryat, 19 correct, 2 incorrect, 35.71% in first on buzzer
Jan $9,400 Coryat, 11 correct, 1 incorrect, 21.43% in first on buzzer
Combined Coryat Score: $35,400
Lach Trash: $12,400 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,800

James Rodrigues, final stats:
40 correct, 4 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts
33.04% in first on buzzer (37/112)
0/1 on Daily Doubles
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,300

Kevin Patterson, stats to date:
18 correct, 2 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts
28.57% in first on buzzer (16/56)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,800

Kevin Patterson, to win:
2 games: 42.66%
3: 18.20%
4: 7.76%
5: 3.31%
6: 1.41%
Avg. streak: 1.744 games.

Tournament of Champions projections:
With a projected 159 regular-play games to go prior to the Tournament of Champions cutoff, after 500,000 simulations, our model shows:
An average of 4.42 5+-time champions (standard deviation 1.7577).
An average of 8.0056 4+-time champions (standard deviation 2.1805).

An early cutoff took place 26.044% of the time (or a 5-game winner will be left out).

Kevin Patterson qualified 3.766% of the time.
Dave Leffler qualified 46.143% of the time.
Alex Schmidt qualified 20.387% of the time.
Jackie Fuchs qualified 5.530% of the time.
Mary Ann Borer qualified 1.165% of the time.
Kyle Becker qualified 0.121% of the time.

Miscellaneous:

• During calendar year 2018, including all tournaments and consolation prizes, Jeopardy! awarded $5,451,970 in prize money.

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