recaps

Season 42

Today’s Final Jeopardy – Monday, February 16, 2026

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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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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the February 16, 2026, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled.

Attention: There is also a new “Daily Details” post accompanying this game. If you’re looking for more detailed thoughts and statistics about today’s game of Jeopardy!, as well as the ability to leave a comment, make sure to check them out here! (Note that the page is only viewable to logged-in free subscribers to TJF Plus.)

Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Men of Religion) for Monday, February 16, 2026 (Season 42, Game 116):

A 1660 book quoted Mary, Queen of Scots as saying she feared this man’s prayers more than an army of men

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Alison Betts, a creative executive originally from San Jose, California

Alison Betts on Jeopardy!

Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, California

Andrew He on Jeopardy!

Matt Amodio, a quantitative researcher from New York, New York

Matt Amodio on Jeopardy!

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Today sees semifinal #2 of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament between Matt Amodio, Andrew He, and Alison Betts. I’m expecting to see a spirited battle between the two Season 38 alumni, both rated significantly higher by the Unified Prediction Model. However, Alison very much has already shown in this tournament that anything can happen, and she is more than capable of finding herself in the finals.

(Content continues 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.

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Correct response: Who is John Knox?

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.)

John Knox was a 16th-century Scottish religious leader best known today for leading the Reformation in Scotland and serving as the Protestant leader in Scotland in opposition to the Catholic Queen of Scotland at the time, Mary, Queen of Scots. His work ensured that, even after his death, Prebyterianism rather than Anglicanism became the dominant Christian denomination in Scotland.

While the specific wording of the quote is debated (explaining why there were no quotation marks in the clue), the general gist of the quote from Mary, explained in today’s Final Jeopardy clue, tells us how much the Catholic queen feared the Presbyterian leader.

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Game Recap:

Through 60 clues of this semifinal, it looked as if we would be pointing towards Andrew He’s Daily Double miss on a clue about the Carrara quarry in Italy as the major driving factor behind today’s outcome, as that was the ultimate reason behind Matt Amodio leading entering Final Jeopardy. (Alison Betts was in a distant third and it didn’t look like she’d get a repeat performance of her viral moment last week.)

Final Jeopardy proved difficult for our contestants, though, with nobody coming up with a correct response, as it came down to our wagers between Matt and Andrew. Andrew went for the small bet in this situation, hoping Matt would make the standard cover bet, and advanced to the finals when Matt’s standard cover bet of $8,001 was revealed. Andrew will be joining Roger Craig and one more in the finals that start Wednesday.

Scores going into Final:

Matt $19,200
Andrew $13,600
Alison $2,600

Tonight’s results:

Alison $2,600 – $0 = $2,600 (Who these guys definitely won’t bet it all)
Andrew $13,600 – $38 = $13,562 (Who else thinks the best season of Jeopardy was …) (Finalist)
Matt $19,200 – $8,001 = $11,199 (Who James I)

Andrew He, today's Jeopardy! winner (for the February 16, 2026 game.)

Chances of winning tournament:

Andrew He: 38.739%
Roger Craig: 38.075%
Long Nguyen: 10.806%
Drew Goins: 6.526%
Karen Farrell: 5.854%

If you are looking for more detailed statistics about today’s game of Jeopardy!, as well as the ability to leave a comment, make sure to check out the Daily Details section.

Game Stats:

Andrew $19,600 Coryat, 22 correct, 3 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Matt $14,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 1 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Alison $3,600 Coryat, 7 correct, 1 incorrect, 10.53% in first on buzzer (6/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $37,400

Andy’s Thoughts:

  • After the third semifinal at last year’s JIT, where this same Final Jeopardy betting situation came up, I know some strategic discussions certainly came up among some of the champions regarding whether or not the cover bet was the best decision from the lead in this situation. I guess when you’re Matt Amodio, you probably do need to put faith in yourself to get Final Jeopardy correct, though.

  • The trivia league that Alison mentioned in her interview is QuIP, or “Quizzing In Progress”; it’s the same league that Veronica Vichit-Vadakan mentioned in her interview.

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

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Matt $19,200 Andrew $13,600 Alison $2,600)

Matt: Your standard cover bet is $8,001 here—and as I alluded to above, you can never really fault a player betting on themself like this. That being said—especially because Andrew is likely well-versed in wagering strategy at this point—it might be worth a more conservative bet in this between-2/3-and 3/4 window. In that case, a bet between $2,801 and $3,199 both stays above Andrew if he bets less than $2,400, as well as still covers him if he bets $8,399 (the maximum he can bet while still keeping Alison locked out.) (Actual bet: $8,001)

Andrew: If Matt makes the standard cover bet, he falls to $11,199. I think your best chance of victory today comes if you bet between $0 and $2,400, hoping that Matt does that and is incorrect. (Actual bet: $38)

Alison: You need both Matt and Andrew to overbet significantly to have any hope. Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $0)


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