recaps
Today’s Final Jeopardy answer (in the category Movie Promotions) and statistics for the Monday, October 19, 2026 game between Anthony Cantor, Aster Wise, and 1-day champion Frank Merchlewitz.
Today's Final Jeopardy - Monday, October 19, 2026
Current Champion
Frank Merchlewitz, career statistics:
24 correct, 8 incorrect
0/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,800
To win:
2 games: 57.289%
3: 32.820%
4: 18.802%
5: 10.772%
6: 6.171%
Avg. streak: 2.341 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)
(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 19, 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 Movie Promotions) for Monday, October 19, 2026 (Season 43, Game 26):
In 2001 20th Century Fox used a Coast Guard helicopter to "rescue" a prop before a homecoming at this company's Chicago HQ
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today's Jeopardy! contestants:
Frank enters today's game as a 1-day champion with winnings of $14,350.
Andy's Pregame Thoughts:
It's time for a new week on Jeopardy!, with Minnesota's Frank Merchlewitz returning as champion to face off against Aster Wise of Virginia and Anthony Cantor of Toronto. (Of course, the latest AI recap bot on YouTube hallucinated today's two challengers out of thin air on Friday.)
One thing that's already become clear about this week's games, and it's only Monday: the green room camaraderie amongst this week's taping cohort is clearly going to be very high—a number of them banded together to form an Online Quiz League USA team that has already begun play this fall. If the early stats are any indication, it might be worth watching out for Christine Bobal in Thursday's game.
Of course, for the second consecutive Monday, the J!6 clues are not available on Jeopardy!'s website at the time this article is being written; hopefully they'll be up by the end of the day (and that I won't have a reason to boycott like I chose to last Monday.)
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is Wilson?
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.)
In 2001, to promote the release of Cast Away on home media, 20th Century Fox decided that it needed to "save Wilson" from the island; Wilson, of course, being the volleyball companion of Tom Hanks's character in the movie. Thus, in order to do so, the studio arranged for a Coast Guard helicopter to "rescue" the inanimate object from the island, returning the ball to Wilson headquarters in Chicago, where it arrived to a homecoming parade.
Wilson Sporting Goods's website itself contains a large amount of behind-the-scenes information about their volleyball's role in the turn-of-the century flick.
I think that there is enough in the clue to point you towards the correct film; as long as you can remember which important company from the film was based in Chicago, you'll be fine. (And hopefully you don't go down the Ken Jennings/FedEx line.)
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