Latest news with #FinalJeopardy
Daily Mail
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Jeopardy! fans left devastated after beloved gameshow goes on hiatus: 'I'm crying'
Jeopardy! is officially on a break for the summer and there will not be any new episodes until September. The beloved game show, fronted by Ken Jennings, concluded its 41st series last week with an epic season finale that saw 16-game champion Scott Riccardi lose to Jonathan Hugendubler. As of Monday, the program has returned to airing reruns – as is typical during the summer – to fill the void. Over the next six weeks, viewers will be able to watch reruns of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and the Second Chance/Champions Wildcard (JIT) episodes. The JIT rerun coverage will end on Thursday, September 4, and then the final game of season 41 will air on September 5. Jeopardy! season 42 will commence on September 8. Taking to Instagram to announce the summer schedule, the show's official account said: 'It feels like summer. Which means Jeopardy! reruns are in full effect.' While some fans were enthusiastic, others declared they will not be watching old episodes. 'No thanks, I'll come back in September for the new season,' one commented. 'I don't watch reruns. Have a nice summer.' 'Good reason to take a break,' noted another, while a third added, 'BRB crying. But enjoy the summer!' Last week's season 41 finale saw Scott lose to Jonathan by just one dollar. During the episode, Scott entered Final Jeopardy with $10,000 more than his opponent – but disaster struck when the clue was read out. Addressing the players in the category titled 20th Century Names, Ken said: 'According to one obituary, in 1935 he owned 13 magazines, eight radio stations, two movie companies, and $56 million in real estate.' While the correct answer was William Randolph Hearst, Scott incorrectly guessed: 'Who is Howard Hughes?' Luckily for Jonathan, his wager was one dollar higher and he became the new champion with $23,601 while Scott finished the game with $18,600. Addressing his Final Jeopardy in a thread on Reddit, Scott said that his mind 'unfortunately went straight to Howard Hughes mostly due to overestimating the importance of the movie companies part of the clue.' He continued: 'Truthfully, I was just especially unprepared to respond correctly to a clue about Hearst. 'I made a mental note before flying out that I was consistently forgetting to consider, of all things, Citizen Kane and the Tower of London as responses whenever they came up in archived practice clues; in the green room that week, I reminded myself about the Tower of London but could not remember the other half of that mental note.' 'Also, before I started my prep for the show in earnest, I had found that I was having a hard time properly retaining info on what I found to be a confusing amount of three-named Williams in publishing (William Randolph Hearst, William Lloyd Garrison, and William F. Buckley, to name a few), never circling back to that thought after I got the call to be on the show,' Scott added. 'So several information near-misses and a poor understanding of the timeline in the clue really piled up to prevent me from getting what I now understand to be a very gettable clue.'
USA Today
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Jeopardy' season finale ends with a stunning final upset
We have ourselves quite the upset in the Season 41 finale of Jeopardy! Scott Riccardi -- an engineer from New Jersey -- entered Friday's episode on a 16-day win streak, the 10th best of all time. He won $455,000, which is eighth in terms of earnings in the regular season. And he faced Jonathan, who had enough money to challenge Riccardi in Final Jeopardy, which was this clue: "According to one obituary, in 1935 he owned 13 magazines, 8 radio stations, 2 movie companies & $56 million in real estate." MORE JEOPARDY: Champions weren't the first married winners The answer? Who is Hearst? But if you had Howard Hughes on the brain -- I did too! -- that's where Riccardi went. And he lost. Streak over. But what a run it was! Check out this super-dramatic moment from the season finale: Congrats on the win streak, Scott. It's been an incredible run.
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NJ man qualifies for 'Jeopardy!' Tournament of Champions. How long could his streak last?
A New Jersey man's latest win on "Jeopardy!" ensures he will be back for the quiz show's coveted end-of-season tournament later in the year. Scott Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, claimed his fifth consecutive victory July 9 to qualify him for the Season 41 Tournament of Champions. The annual competition is generally reserved for contestants who earn at least five "Jeopardy!" wins, although the show may invite champions with fewer victories if there are not enough five-game winners. The Tournament of Champions tracker shows Riccardi trails only four people — an eight-game champion and a trio of six-game winners — in the number of victories so far this season. However, his total winnings of $144,902 and counting are already the most of any contestant this year, more than $7,000 ahead of the runner-up. Riccardi earned $12,500 in his most recent win, the lowest payout of his five-game run, after playing it safe for the Final Jeopardy clue to ensure he could not be caught. His $12,000 total after both "Jeopardy!" rounds was more than double the $5,400 accumulated by second-place Sarah Mulligan, resulting in a modest $500 wager for his last guess of the episode. With his victory already assured, Riccardi was the only one of the three contestants to respond correctly in Final Jeopardy, in the category "Ancient Builders." The clue: "A 2nd c. inscription in Northern England records that the gods imposed 'the necessity of keeping intact the empire' on this man." The answer: "Who is Hadrian?" Riccardi will look to continue his "Jeopardy!" reign against two new challengers July 10. The dates of the next Tournament of Champions have not yet been announced. This article originally appeared on Scott Riccardi of Somerville NJ wins fifth 'Jeopardy!' game Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scott Riccardi of New Jersey extends 'Jeopardy!' streak to 15; cracks Top 10 on money list
Scott Riccardi of New Jersey extended his "Jeopardy!" winning streak to 15 games on July 23 and cracked the Top 10 of the regular-season money list on the long-running show. Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville and 2021 Rutgers graduate, began his winning streak on July 3 and has career earnings of $430,910. He is now in eighth place on the all-time regular-season highest money winnings list and one more win would tie him for 10th on the consecutive wins list, according to the "Jeopardy!" website. On the Wednesday, July 23 show, he defeated fellow New Jerseyan, Gerri Budd, an adjunct professor and small business owner from Nutley, and Andrew Crowley, a freelance writer from Henderson, Nevada. As he has done of late, Riccardi had a commanding lead entering Final Jeopardy (more than triple the next closet competitor in this game). The Final Jeopary was: "Opened in 1902, it's 87 feet in width on the 22nd Street side & less than 7 feet wide at its narrowest point on 23rd Street." Both Riccardi and Budd knew the New York City Final Jeopardy answer: "What is the Flatiron Building?" The final money totals were: Riccardi with $40,008, Crowley $9,000 and Budd $6,300. Riccardi is by far the winningest contestant on this season of the long-running game show. According to the show's Tournament of Champions tracker, Riccardi's streak has him ahead of eight-time champ Laura Faddah on this season's leaderboard. The season began Sept. 9, 2024 and three other contestants have reached the six-game threshold. He also has already qualified for the Season 41 Tournament of Champions. The annual competition is generally reserved for contestants who earn at least five "Jeopardy!" wins, although the show may invite champions with fewer victories if there are not enough five-game winners. Staff writer Kyle Morel contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on NJ's Scott Riccardi extends 'Jeopardy!' streak to 15 games Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
By the numbers: How Scott Riccardi compares to Top 10 'Jeopardy!' champions
Scott Riccardi's "Jeopardy!" winning streak has reached 15 games, moving the New Jersey native closer to a place among the long-running quiz show's all-time greats. Riccardi, an engineer Somerville, won $40,008 on the July 23 episode, earning him a 15th consecutive win that has resulted in $430,910 and counting. He already has the longest run of Season 41, ahead of eight-time champ Laura Faddah, and has accrued the most money, more than two-and-a-half times the previous high mark of $137,804. Riccardi is averaging about $28,000 per victory. The lofty total is due not only to his trivia prowess but also for his repeated willingness to bet big, and often correctly, despite insurmountable leads heading into Final Jeopardy. If his streak runs through the end of the week, Riccardi will be among the Top 10 "Jeopardy!" contestants all time in terms of consecutive games won during the regular season. He is currently behind Ryan Long, who won 16 straight games during Season 38 in 2022. How does Riccardi's pace stack up to some of the "Jeopardy!" legends? Here is how the Top 10 so-called "superchampions" performed through 13 games, courtesy of the show's archive website. Longest 'Jeopardy!' winning streaks Ken Jennings: The current "Jeopardy!" host holds the record for most consecutive wins, by far, with 74 across Seasons 20 and 21 in 2004. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Jennings was already on an impressive run by his 13th game, earning $440,158 in that time. Amy Schneider: The runner-up on the all-time leaderboard with 40 wins, Schneider got off to an even hotter start than Jennings in Season 38. Her winnings after her 13th game totaled $536,400. Matt Amodio: The eventual 38-game champ in Seasons 37 and 38 had a pace slightly below Jennings by game 13, earning $430,200. James Holzhauer: No surprise for a contestant who has the 10 highest single-game scores in "Jeopardy!" history, Holzhauer had accrued a whopping $942,738 after his 13th win during Season 35 in 2019. Holzhauer's streak stretched to 32 games and more than $2.4 million before he finally lost. Mattea Roach: The contestant with the fifth-longest win streak is also the first whose pace is below Riccardi's. Roach, who would go on to win 23 games in Season 38, had earned $286,081 following game 13. Cris Pannullo: A fellow New Jerseyan, Ocean City native Pannullo is the highest-grossing champion from the Garden State. He had already earned $416,102 after his 13th win in Season 39 and would run his streak to 21 games. Julia Collins: Collins' 20-game run in Season 30 made her the winningest female contestant in "Jeopardy!" history at the time. She won $261,410 over her first 13 games, more than $100,000 behind Riccardi's total over the same time span. Jason Zuffranieri: Zuffranieri won 19 consecutive games across Seasons 35 and 36. He earned $361,943 following his 13th win, narrowly trailing Riccardi's pace by less than $1,000. David Madden: Another 19-game winner, Madden compiled his wins in Seasons 21 and 22. His earnings at the time of his 13th game totaled $305,101, more than $50,000 less than Riccardi. Ryan Long: After 13 wins of his aforementioned 16-game streak in Season 38, Long had won $252,700, the lowest total of any champion in the top 10. This article originally appeared on By the numbers: How Scott Riccardi compares to top 'Jeopardy!' champs Solve the daily Crossword
