recaps
Season 42
Today’s Final Jeopardy – Friday, July 24, 2026
Warning: This page contains spoilers for the July 24, 2026, game ofJeopardy!— 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.
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 Pop Culture Nicknames) for Friday, July 24, 2026 (Season 42, Game 230):
This star, director & writer who won an Oscar for his 1996 film was called “the hillbilly Orson Welles” by Robert Duvall
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Devin Weinberg, a lawyer from Denver, Colorado
Sophia Suazo, a licensing manager from Plainview, New York
Matthew Riggle, a community college math instructor from Madison, Alabama (1-day total: $48,001)
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Yesterday saw one of the best comebacks in the history of Jeopardy!, with Matthew Riggle coming back from $16,600 down—without the help of a Daily Double—to defeat defending champion Dean Zach; both Matthew and fellow challenger Jacqueline Ziegler shut Dean out over the final 25 clues on the buzzer to aid in the comeback. Today, Matthew defends his title against Sophia Suazo and Devin Weinberg, and if the first four games this week are any indication, I can’t wait to see what today’s game has in store.
Today is the final first-run episode of Season 42, with today’s winner returning at the start of Season 43 on September 14 to defend their title. Normally, there are six weeks worth of encore presentations before the start of Season 43. However, because of the way the calendar works, and Labor Day 2026 coming on September 7 (compared to Labor Day 2025 happening on September 1), Season 43 won’t start until September 14, with there being seven weeks of encore presentations happening. While my TV program guide has confimed that the encore presentations begin with Champions Wildcard, I can presume that it will follow with the entirety of the Tournament of Champions and the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (as those three events added up to exactly seven weeks’ worth of episodes). That being said, there is still going to be first-run content for Jeopardy! fans to consume this summer—ESPN Jeopardy! begins airing on Hulu and Disney+ on July 31, while Jeopardy! Masters Season 4 begins on Tuesday, August 25 at 8:00 PM Eastern.
I also plan on keeping the J!6 clue archives up to date throughout the summer; however, that assumes that the J!6 clues are different for the summer encore presentations. (Right now, it’s a rare question that I don’t have to the answer to, and I’ll find out on Monday.)
(Content continues below)
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: Who is Billy Bob Thornton?
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.)
Billy Bob Thornton received international acclaim for his 1996 film Sling Blade, which won him the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as a nomination for Best Actor. The nickname “the hillbilly Orson Welles” came to prominence after Robert Duvall revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2014 that he gave Thornton the nickname.
It’ll be interesting to see how today’s Final Jeopardy clue plays; I didn’t get it correct, but it’s also in one of my weaker categories. I could certainly see how a pop culture expert could do well on this Final.
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Game Recap:
Devin Weinberg led through 30, but Matthew Riggle came on like gangbusters again in Double Jeopardy, going from third to first and picking up more than $20,000 on the second board.
Matthew’s strong second round gave him enough of a cushion to survive a Triple Stumper in Final Jeopardy, as he only needed to make a small cover bet, and he’ll be your champion over the summer! He’ll go for win #3 when Season 43 opens on September 14.
Scores going into Final:
Matthew $21,600
Devin $13,400
Sophia $7,000
Tonight’s results:
Sophia $7,000 – $7,000 = $0 (Who is Clint Eastwood?)
Devin $13,400 – $10,000 = $3,400 (Who is Pacino?)
Matthew $21,600 – $5,201 = $16,399 (Who is I love you Angela <3) (2-day total: $64,400)
Game Stats:
Matthew $18,600 Coryat, 19 correct, 3 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Devin $12,400 Coryat, 22 correct, 1 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Sophia $7,000 Coryat, 11 correct, 2 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 0/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,000
Matthew Riggle, to win:
3 games: 68.027%
4: 46.277%
5: 31.481%
6: 21.415%
7: 14.568%
Avg. streak: 4.128 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Matthew $21,600 Devin $13,400 Sophia $7,000)
Matthew: Standard cover bet over Devin is $5,201. (Actual bet: $5,201)
Sophia: You can’t win unless Matthew overbets. Second is still on the table, though. If Devin bets the minimum he has to, you’ll need to bet at least $3,400. However, most players don’t bet that in Devon’s position. The most common bets from Devon’s spot in practice are $8,201 and just about all in; you should probably bet no more than $1,800 to stay ahead of Devon in case he makes the extremely common $8,201 bet. (Actual bet: $7,000)
Devin: You have to bet at least $3,000 to have any chance of victory. (Actual bet: $10,000)
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