Today’s Final Jeopardy – Tuesday, December 31, 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 Theater Etymology) for Tuesday, December 31, 2024 (Season 41, Game 82):

A centuries-old type of performance, this word includes Greek roots meaning “imitator of all”

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Mike Ferguson, a chemistry professor from Edmond, Oklahoma

Kaitlin Tarr, a ceramic artist from Denver, Colorado

Scott Tcheng, an ER doctor from San Francisco, California

On this New Year’s Eve, Day 2 of Second Chance features Scott Tcheng, who was just $600 behind Ryan Manton going into Final Jeopardy back in October, Kaitlin Tarr, who led Adriana Harmeyer going into Final Jeopardy back in June, and Mike Ferguson, who put up $17,000 going into Final Jeopardy against Isaac Hirsch back in July. The prediction model does like Mike’s chances—but there’s still so much variance in today’s game that things are often quite unpredictable!

One pleasant thing about yesterday is that there were significantly fewer complaints than I was expecting regarding tournaments. I guess most viewers don’t mind tournaments after all!

A few markets today are going to be pre-empted by college football games; the most prominent being Chicago. Check your local listings; Matt Carberry has his usual Google Sheet. This also means that a couple markets are airing the show earlier than usual; thus, we may see results early—depending on of those stations’ listings are correct or not.

Finally, on this New Year’s Eve, it is time for me to announce my singular New Year’s Resolution for 2025: find some way where I do not need to rely on this website’s revenue in order to live so that I no longer feel obligated to operate this website. I am tired of having my work stolen every single day by various other websites and YouTube channels. I am tired of being bullied by members of this community. And I am tired of having my contributions to this show deliberately downplayed by those who are upset that I have dared to stand up for others over the past decade.

Correct response: What is pantomime?

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.)

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word “pantomime” dates from the late 16^th century, and gets its etymology from the Greek pantomimos, “imitator of all”, “mimos” meaning imitator and “pan” meaning all. Craig Ferguson recently described pantomime as “Think Mamma Mia! featuring the Three Stooges but with everyone’s back catalogue, not just ABBA’s.”

Interestingly, a very early form of pantomime, dating back to the Middle Ages, is the English “Mummers Play,” which spread to Ireland and later the island of Newfoundland; mummers can still be seen in the holiday season in the St. John’s area.

In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in late 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.

Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, December 31, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: The Cities’ Time Zone; Quotable Women; Not For The Money; Animal Expressions; Nonfiction; Military Celebs)

Kaitlin made a nice comeback after a True Daily Double miss to still lead after 15 clues. At the interviews, the scores were Kaitlin $2,400 Scott $1,200 Mike $200.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Kaitlin 9 correct 1 incorrect
Scott 3 correct 0 incorrect
Mike 1 correct 1 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Mike got a message from a 92-year-old former teacher.
Kaitlin is haunted by one of her Daily Doubles.
Scott tried out for Jeopardy on a whim.

Kaitlin continued her strong play, picking up 9 correct after the interviews to take a big lead into the game’s second half.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Kaitlin 18 correct 2 incorrect
Scott 6 correct 0 incorrect
Mike 4 correct 2 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Kaitlin $7,800
Scott $2,200
Mike $1,000

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Knotty Entertainment; Mythology; Sink, Sank, Sunk; Modern Abbreviations; Science Test; From “M” To “Y”)

Scott had a very strong round, but got DD2 incorrect, while Kaitlin got DD3 correct. That proved to be the margin between first and second going into Final Jeopardy.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Kaitlin 27 correct 3 incorrect
Scott 15 correct 1 incorrect
Mike 10 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Kaitlin $14,400
Scott $11,400
Mike $8,200

Nobody got this Final Jeopardy correct, but Kaitlin didn’t make the cover bet—and that puts her through to the final!

Tonight’s results:

Mike $8,200 – $8,200 = $0 (What Silog siloquiy)
Scott $11,400 – $5,001 = $6,399 (What is 3rd Chance competition?)
Kaitlin $14,400 – $5,999 = $8,401 (What are impressions?) (Finalist)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) NONFICTION $1000 (clue #7)
Kaitlin 3600 -3600 (Scott 200 Mike -200)
2) MYTHOLOGY $2000 (clue #6)
Scott 5800 -2000 (Kaitlin 6200 Mike 2600)
3) SINK, SANK, SUNK $1600 (clue #19, $12000 left on board)
Kaitlin 11400 +1400 (Scott 5800 Mike 8600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -122

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Scott 4 4
Kaitlin 5 3 2 1 5*
Mike

DJ! Round:
Scott 4 4 5* 4 4 4
Kaitlin 5 1† 3 2 1 4*
Mike 3 5 2 3† 2† 1 3

† – selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Kaitlin 2.91
Scott 4.13
Mike 2.71

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.32 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Kaitlin $18,200 Coryat, 27 correct, 3 incorrect, 47.37% in first on buzzer (27/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Scott $13,400 Coryat, 15 correct, 1 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Mike $8,200 Coryat, 10 correct, 3 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $39,800
Lach Trash: $7,400 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,800
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 0

Player Statistics:

Scott Tcheng, career statistics:

34 correct, 4 incorrect
3/4 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
27.19% in first on buzzer (31/114)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,600

Kaitlin Tarr, career statistics:

48 correct, 8 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
42.98% in first on buzzer (49/114)
2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$3,200)
0/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,600

Mike Ferguson, career statistics:

27 correct, 4 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (28/114)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,600

Andy’s Thoughts:

• Friendly reminder that “lar-nix” is an acceptable alternate pronunciation of “larynx” and that this it not the first time this has surfaced on the show.
• I don’t think Kaitlin’s bet was a math error or a “wagering the wrong number from the scratch paper” error; I think it was a defense against a bet of $3,001 from Scott. Regardless of the strategy behind it, it worked out for her.
• Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Kaitlin $14,400 Scott $11,400 Mike $8,200)

Scott: Standard cover bet over Mike is $5,001. (Actual bet: $5,001)

Kaitlin: Standard cover bet over Scott is $8,401. (Actual bet: $5,999)

Mike: Bet no more than $1,799 and you’ll be in a good spot for a Triple Stumper. (Actual bet: $8,200)

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