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
DISCLAIMER
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If you were watching tonight’s Jeopardy!, you saw the defeat of Seth Wilson to Margie Eulner Ott after Seth bet just $5 in Final Jeopardy.
In case you missed it, the scores were:
Seth $19,000
Margie $17,000
Eric $1,800
The conventional wisdom in this sort of situation is to make the “standard cover” wager, in this case, $15,001. But how does Seth’s bet of $5 stack up?
Thankfully, because of the exhaustiveness of the data sitting at J! Archive, it is actually possible to quantify the winning percentage of each bet.
The conventional bet of $15,001 wins in the following cases:
1) Seth gets Final Jeopardy! correct; or,
2) Both Seth and Margie miss Final Jeopardy, and Margie over-wagers.
(An “over-wager” is defined here as a bet that loses a double-stumper between the two leaders).
The $5 bet (or even a $2 bet wins in the following cases):
1) Margie misses Final Jeopardy; or,
2) Margie underbets (less than the difference between 1st and 2nd); or,
3) Margie bets to take the lead by $1, and Seth gets Final Jeopardy correct.
Here are the numbers:
From the start of Season 31 to this point of Season 33:
Leaders are 52.63% in Final;
2nd place is incorrect 54.73% of the time;
Dating back to 2001 in regular play, and in four-fifths games:
2nd place “over-wagers” 47.91% of the time (390/814);
2nd place bets to take the lead by $1 5.53% of the time (45/814);
2nd place underbets (less than the difference between 1st and 2nd) 4.91% of the time (40/814).
Doing the calculations:
Big ($15,001):
Win if:
Correct (52.63%)
or both wrong & 2nd overbets (29.05% * 47.91% = 13.92%)
Chances: 66.55%
Small ($2):
Win if:
2nd incorrect (54.73%)
or 2nd underbets (4.91%)
or right and second bets to take lead by $1 (5.53% * 52.63% = 2.91%)
Chances: 62.55%
So, this bet, on its surface, lowers Seth’s winning chances slightly in this specific game.
However, an astute opponent waiting in the audience may notice Seth’s propensity to make a small bet and may make a sub-optimal wager in the future in light of this information, leading to a greater chance of victory down the round.
Due to the possibility of a heightened victory chance of future game cancelling out any lessened chances in this game, it is my conclusion that Seth’s $5 bet is far from any sort of egregious blunder, but a simple gambit that in this specific case failed to work out. Unfortunately, it ended a great streak at 12 games, but I applaud Seth’s willingness to take this chance. We’ll see him again, I’m sure, in the Tournament of Champions.
Go big or go home…
I might react differently if the category had been “Opera” or “19th century French Lit”, but the “Economy” catagory hits my wheelhouse (future Jeopardy answer? lol)…