Today’s Final Jeopardy – Monday, August 5, 2024

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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 American Literary History) for Monday, August 5, 2024 (Season 40, Game 128):

“The country is celebrating 100 years of freedom 100 years too soon”, says “The Fire Next Time”, published in this year

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Sean McShane, a tour guide from South Boston, Massachusetts

Deb Bilodeau, a restaurant server from San Francisco, California

Troy Meyer, a music executive from Tampa, Florida

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Our second week of Encore Presentations this summer begins with the final quarterfinal of the 31^st Tournament of Champions; this game, that originally aired on March 6, was between Troy Meyer, Deb Bilodeau, and Sean McShane. Troy entered this event as one of the favorites to take victory, while Deb had just made their way through the Champions Wildcard gauntlet to take the last spot in the field. Sean, meanwhile, was a 3-day champion with an over $20,000 average Coryatthat had been defeated by Ray Lalonde; Ray, of course, became a superchampion after his victory.

I have an occasional mailbag column where I answer fan & viewer questions regarding the show. If you have a question, feel free to send it to mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com!

Correct response: What is 1963?

More information about Final Jeopardy:

(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)

In 1963, James Baldwin wrote The Fire Next Time, which included a pair of essays: “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” and “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind”. It was in the first one where Baldwin wrote about how, despite the Emancipation Proclamation had occurred 100 years prior (in 1863), that America still made efforts to mistreat Black Americans.

To me, this seemed like an excellent “do the math” puzzle, where if you can figure out that “100 years of freedom” refers to “100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation”, you should be able to get to the correct response.

It should be noted from a clue perspective that while the initial “My Dungeon Shook” letter was published in The Progressive a year earlier, the clue cites The Fire Next Time, which was published in 1963. This is not a trick question, and I am writing this paragraph to preemptively rebut the pedants who inevitably come onto the site and challenge this sort of material.

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Monday, August 5, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Shakespeare For Everyone!; Olympic History; Islands; Middle X; Waits; Measures)

Deb found the Daily Double early, but fell into the red with an incorrect response. Troy got off to the best start overall, but a $1000 incorrect response, rebounded by Sean, made things close after 15 clues.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Troy 6 correct 1 incorrect
Sean 4 correct 0 incorrect
Deb 3 correct 1 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Sean is willing to let bygones be bygones in his feud with Long Island.
Deb is wearing contact lenses.
Troy is expecting a baby girl; his wife has suggested Kenderella as a name.

In the back half of the opening board, Troy and Sean both picked up a number of correct responses; this will be a very interesting battle in Double Jeopardy!

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Troy 14 correct 1 incorrect
Sean 10 correct 1 incorrect
Deb 4 correct 1 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Troy $7,000
Sean $5,200
Deb $1,600

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: 1924; Unusual Words; The Arts; Occupations; Movie Taglines; The Heavens & Earth)

Troy succesfully converted both Daily Doubles in this round within the first 11 clues, cementing a runaway position with more than a third of the round still to play! After 14 correct responses, and being the only player to score at the $2,000 level, he had a $30,000 lead going into Final.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Troy 28 correct 2 incorrect
Deb 12 correct 1 incorrect
Sean 13 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Troy $38,400
Deb $8,400
Sean $7,200

Troy put an exclamation mark on his dominant performance with a correct response in Final Jeopardy. He’s a semifinalist!

Tonight’s results:

Sean $7,200 – $1,201 = $5,999 (What is 1876? Hi South Boston!)
Deb $8,400 – $0 = $8,400 (What is 1976? Thanks y’all)
Troy $38,400 + $0 = $38,400 (What is 1963) (Semi-Finalist)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) SHAKESPEARE FOR EVERYONE! $800 (clue #2)
Deb 800 -1000 (Troy 0 Sean 0)
2) THE HEAVENS & EARTH $1600 (clue #6)
Troy 11800 +11800 (Deb 4400 Sean 5200)
3) OCCUPATIONS $1200 (clue #11, $19600 left on board)
Troy 26400 +4000 (Deb 4400 Sean 6800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 15

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Troy 4
Deb 4*
Sean

DJ! Round:
Troy 4 3 4* 2 5 4 3*
Deb 3 4 5
Sean 4

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Troy 3.63
Deb 4.00
Sean 4.00

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Troy $25,400 Coryat, 28 correct, 2 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Deb $9,400 Coryat, 12 correct, 1 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Sean $7,200 Coryat, 13 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $42,000
Lach Trash: $8,200 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,800
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 2

Player Statistics:

Troy Meyer, career statistics:

228 correct, 17 incorrect
14/16 on rebound attempts (on 28 rebound opportunities)
46.27% in first on buzzer (211/456)
10/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $44,800)
6/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,850

Deb Bilodeau, career statistics:

136 correct, 22 incorrect
7/8 on rebound attempts (on 20 rebound opportunities)
33.92% in first on buzzer (135/398)
6/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,100)
3/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,229

Sean McShane, career statistics:

123 correct, 12 incorrect
5/5 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
42.46% in first on buzzer (121/285)
3/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,000)
3/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,600

Andy’s Thoughts:

• Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.

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