recaps
Today’s Final Jeopardy answer (in the category Pulitzer Prize-Winning Fiction) and statistics for the Friday, October 23, 2026 game between Shannon Leigh Godwin, Ajin Tae, and 4-day champion Anthony Cantor.
Today's Final Jeopardy - Friday, October 23, 2026
Current Champion
Anthony Cantor, career statistics:
86 correct, 9 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (80/228)
4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,600)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,850
To win:
5 games: 63.538%
6: 40.371%
7: 25.651%
8: 16.298%
9: 10.355%
Avg. streak: 5.743 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)
Upcoming Encore Presentations
October 24-25: S42 E178 (May 13, 2026)
October 31-Nov. 1: S42 E179 (May 14, 2026)
November 7-8: S42 E180 (May 15, 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
Warning: This page contains spoilers for the October 23, 2026, game of Jeopardy!—please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as 12:30 PM Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here's today's Final Jeopardy (in the category Pulitzer Prize-Winning Fiction) for Friday, October 23, 2026 (Season 43, Game 30):
Inspired by the story to tell similar ones, Taylor Sheridan wrote the foreword to the 40th anniversary edition of this novel
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today's Jeopardy! contestants:
Anthony enters today's game as a 4-day champion with winnings of $77,199.
Andy's Pregame Thoughts:
It was back in July where Caleb Groen became the 296th 5-time champion since Jeopardy! returned to the airwaves in 1984, with both Matthew Riggle and Rian Robertson making an attempt to become the 297th; however, they both failed in their attempt. Today, Anthony Cantor becomes the third player this season attempting to become a 5-time champion, with challengers Ajin Tae and Shannon Leigh Godwin both attempting to stop him from doing so.
With the World Series starting tonight on FOX, there will be a handful of preemptions over the next 8 days for the 10 FOX local stations that carry the show. As of right now, all 10 stations will be moving the show to some other time on their schedule, or to a sister station. Matt Carberry's Google sheet (or your local listings) will have more information for you.
(Content continues below)
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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!
Correct response: What is Lonesome Dove?
More Information About Final Jeopardy!:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2026 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, the 1986 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was set in the Old West, and dealt with the journey of a number of retired Texas Rangers driving cattle from Texas northwestern towards Montana. Interestingly, the novel started out as a screenplay, but when a number of actors (including John Wayne) demurred on the project, McMurtry developed the screenplay into Lonesome Dove instead.
Taylor Sheridan, now best known for creating such Western series as Yellowstone, referred to his reading (and re-reading following the TV miniseries adaptation of the work) as "easily the most formative event in my life" in the foreword to the recently-released 40th Anniversary Edition.
Without a year in the clue, the best way in to this Final Jeopardy clue is to know who Taylor Sheridan is; if you don't, you're basically picking a work at least 40 years old, and hopefully landing on the right one. We'll see how it plays.
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