recaps

Detailed statistics for the Monday, September 21, 2026 episode of Jeopardy! (Donovan Bisbee, Jennifer Leavey, Mark Ramirez).

(TJF Plus) Daily Details - Monday, September 21, 2026

Published September 21, 2026 - 8:59 a.m. Modified September 22, 2026 - 6:16 a.m.

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Current Champion

Jennifer Leavey, career statistics:
15 correct, 5 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,600

To win:
2 games: 46.897%
3: 21.993%
4: 10.314%
5: 4.837%
6: 2.268%
Avg. streak: 1.883 games.
(Click Here for Methodology )

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
(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 $1,598,403
7. Victoria Groce $1,023,801
8. Mattea Roach $897,983
9. Jamie Ding $885,605
10. David Madden $785,733
11. Cris Pannullo $754,286
12. Roger Craig $706,200
13. Andrew He $684,365
14. Larissa Kelly $671,930
15. Matt Jackson $623,612
16. Jason Zuffranieri $549,496
17. Paolo Pasco $548,717
18. Scott Riccardi $533,000
19. Jerome Vered $499,102
20. Julia Collins $495,767
21. Austin Rogers $493,000
22. Juveria Zaheer $491,000
23. Ben Ingram $449,201
24. Adriana Harmeyer $446,600
25. Buzzy Cohen $441,603

Welcome to the TJ!F Plus Daily Details section. For those free logged-in users, more information is available about the results of today's game!

Are you looking for today's main page? Find that here!

Today's Jeopardy! contestants:

Donovan Bisbee, a professor from Portland, Oregon

Jennifer Leavey, a technical writer originally from Ashland, Massachusetts

Mark Ramirez, an executive communications lead from Northglenn, Colorado

Mark enters today's game as a 2-day champion with winnings of $32,300.

Andy's Pregame Thoughts:

Mark Ramirez of Colorado enters this week of Jeopardy! as a 2-day champion with winnings of over $32,000. Today, he faces off against Jennifer Leavey of Massachusetts and Donovan Bisbee of Oregon.

I do want to once again defend my comments about the last two games, because I certainly haven't been 100% complimentary about parts of Mark's strategic play. And that's because I think Mark has the potential to become a great player, and I don't want his run to end early because of a strategic misstep.

While we're on the subject of strategy, I want to remind those who think randomizing Daily Double placement is a good idea that such a change would have unintended consequences for the show—and not good ones. Randomizing Daily Doubles increases variance; increased variance will ultimately lead to shorter champion runs, and because there is a correlation between champions' runs and ratings, it would lower the show's ratings to the point where I would worry about the show's long-term health if the change were implemented. Which proves that once again, people in charge of entertainment franchises should never consider listening to ideas on Reddit whatsoever.

Final Jeopardy! Category: Famous Women

Final Jeopardy! Clue: On her 2025 passing she was called "one of the world's most inspiring voices for animals" & "a beacon of compassion for all life"

(Content continues below)

Add The Jeopardy! Fan to your preferred sources on Google by clicking the button below!

My friends over at Geeks Who Drink have a daily trivia game—Thrice! Existing to make daily clever trivia content accessible to a wide audience, it's a daily challenge that tries to get you to the answer via three separate clues. It has a shareable score functionality to challenge your friends and new questions every day will give you a new daily social ritual. You can find it at thricegame.com.

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.

Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2026? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!

You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 23 players, including Caleb Groen, Adam Remsen, Tristan Williams and Jamie Ding, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!

You can now listen to Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy! episodes from TuneIn Radio without leaving The Jeopardy! Fan — listen now!

Correct response: Who is Jane Goodall?

More Information About Final Jeopardy!:

Upon her passing on October 1, 2025, tributes to Dame Jane Goodall began flooding in from around the world. Goodall was world-renowned as a primatologist and anthropologist and the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. Those tributes included those from the International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition, whose words were cited in today's Final Jeopardy clue.

To me, this feels like another relatively straightforward Final Jeopardy clue, which again, I am in big favor of—it keeps players betting aggressively.

Game Recap & Tonight's Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here's the Monday, September 21, 2026 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: A Year Ending In 6; U.S. Cities; Alphabet Soup; Got A Feeling; Prepositions In Song Titles; Lose R)

Buoyed by a strong performance in the "Year Ending In 6" category, Donovan led early, but the Daily Double was still hidden. After 15 clues, the scores were Donovan $4,000 Mark $1,800 Jennifer -$1,200.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Donovan 7 correct 1 incorrect
Mark 4 correct 1 incorrect
Jennifer 1 correct 3 incorrect

Today's interviews:

Donovan had his successful audition shortly after the birth of his second child.
Jennifer had a Trivial Pursuit-themed bat mitzvah.
Mark collects musical instruments, including an Otamatone from Japan.

Donovan picked up $3,000 from the Daily Double after the break to extend his lead. On the opening board, Donovan got 4 in years ending in 6 and feelings, while Jennifer got 3 in prepositions in song titles and Mark got 3 in U.S. cities.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Donovan 12 correct 1 incorrect
Mark 6 correct 1 incorrect
Jennifer 7 correct 3 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Donovan $8,000
Mark $3,000
Jennifer $2,000

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Starts With 3 Consonants; Together Forever; They Wrote It; The Peabody Awards; Jung; Old)

In what might be seen as a bit of an "old school" Double Jeopardy Round today, we saw lots of top-row clues selected before the Daily Doubles and pair of particularly conservative bets on the two wagering clues. As it stood, Donovan led entering Final Jeopardy, but the scores were very interesting! (Also, on the second board, Mark got 3/5 in The Peabody Awards.)

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Donovan 21 correct 3 incorrect
Jennifer 14 correct 5 incorrect
Mark 14 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Donovan $18,600
Jennifer $10,000
Mark $8,600

Jennifer's correct response put the pressure on Donovan, but Donovan was incorrect. That makes Jennifer Leavey your new champion! She'll be back tomorrow to defend.

Tonight's results:

Mark $8,600 + $1,600 = $10,200 (Who is Jane Goodall?)
Jennifer $10,000 + $10,000 = $20,000 (Who is Jane Goodall) (1-day total: $20,000)
Donovan $18,600 - $1,501 = $17,099 (Who is Mother Theresa?)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) GOT A FEELING $1000 (clue #20)
Donovan 4200 +3000 (Mark 2800 Jennifer -200)
2) STARTS WITH 3 CONSONANTS $1600 (clue #7)
Donovan 8400 +2600 (Mark 2200 Jennifer 2800)
3) THEY WROTE IT $1600 (clue #13, $22800 left on board)
Jennifer 5200 +2000 (Mark 3400 Donovan 11800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 141

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Mark 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 5
Jennifer 5 2 1
Donovan 4 5 3 2 4 3 4 5 5*

DJ! Round:
Mark 3 3 2†
Jennifer 1 2 1 1 2 4*
Donovan 3 4* 4 3

† - selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Jennifer 2.11
Donovan 3.77
Mark 3.36

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:

Jennifer $9,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 5 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Donovan $15,600 Coryat, 21 correct, 3 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Mark $8,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 3 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,800
Lach Trash: $11,000 (on 11 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,200
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 2

Player Statistics:

Mark Ramirez, career statistics:

67 correct, 12 incorrect
8/9 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
38.01% in first on buzzer (65/171)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $200)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,267

Jennifer Leavey, career statistics:

15 correct, 5 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $2,000)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,600

Donovan Bisbee, career statistics:

21 correct, 4 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,600)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,600

Jennifer Leavey, to win:

2 games: 46.897%
3: 21.993%
4: 10.314%
5: 4.837%
6: 2.268%
Avg. streak: 1.883 games.

Andy's Thoughts:

I think it's particularly ironic for Reddit to generally pretend I don't exist these days despite all of my strategy talk, yet I'm sure there will be myriad complaints this evening on Reddit regarding the strategic play in tonight's game. It's almost as if there's a correlation there...

Before any viewers think it necessary to criticize Donovan's incorrect response in Final Jeopardy, though, it did seem like he was writing something last-minute, and there is nothing that can possibly be more incorrect than a blank screen. So I commend him for putting *something* down in Final.

Also, being that we have a significant number of games to be played before the next postseason, it's really hard to predict who will see a Second Chance invite. Certainly, based on past years, Donovan has a very good chance, but we could also see a large number of even more deserving candidates. It's quite tough to say.

Today's J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Donovan $18,600 Jennifer $10,000 Mark $8,600)

Mark: Donovan's score is equal to your score plus Jennifer's score combined. Therefore, assuming Donovan makes the standard cover bet, your only chance of winning is if you go all in. (Actual bet: $1,600)

Jennifer: If you make the standard cover bet over Mark, you're safe. That is $7,201. I probably wouldn't go all-in here, just because Mark is very likely to, thanks to the scores, and that could mean an extra $1,000 for you, and I doubt that I'd trust anyone in this game to recognize any special betting scenarios. (Actual bet: $10,000)

Donovan: Standard cover bet is $1,401. I would do this, and not bet $1 short even considering the scores, because there's no guarantee the other two players will recognize the situation. (Actual bet: $1,501)