Today’s Final Jeopardy – Thursday, May 29, 2025

Current Champion

Nikolas Polsinelli, career statistics:
44 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
35.96% in first on buzzer (41/114)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,600)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $17,500

To win:
3 games: 64.111%
4: 41.102%
5: 26.351%
6: 16.894%
7: 10.831%
Avg. streak: 3.786 games.
(Click Here for Methodology)

Upcoming Encore Presentations

September 26-27: S42 E174 (May 7, 2026)
October 3-4: S42 E175 (May 8, 2026)
October 10-11: S42 E176 (May 11, 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

Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Phrase Origins) for Thursday, May 29, 2025 (Season 41, Game 189):

An 1845 article called “Annexation” was the first appearance of this 2-word phrase implying inevitability

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Geoff Barnes, an analyst from Washington, D.C.

Anne LaGatta, a college professor originally from Moorestown, New Jersey

Thomas Sweeney, a survey technician from Morrow, Ohio (1-day total: $16,401)

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

Thomas Sweeney is your new Jeopardy! champion after his win yesterday. Today, he faces off against Geoff Barnes and Anne LaGatta.

There’s one thing that I want to mention today: I think that Jeopardy! overall has a problem that is basically impossible to fix: its audience is, on the average, a 21^st century American human. And that average viewer has been turned irretrievably in a direction of hatred towards the bogeyman of the month to the point that the best course of action, in my opinion, for both Jeopardy! and any network choosing to air the show is to simply ignore viewers and just put out the program that it wants to put out, before it tries to fruitlessly chase someone who will ultimately never truly love them (that being, in this case, the average American television viewer who ultimately does not have the show’s best interest at heart).

Correct response: What is “manifest destiny”?

More information about Final Jeopardy:

(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2025 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)

In the mid-1840s, when Americans were trying to expand its territory, expansionists were trying to justify their actions by referring to the concept of “manifest destiny”—specifically, the article stated it was “our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” The idea of expansionism led to the both a boundary dispute with the United Kingdom in Oregon as well as the Mexican-American War—and has certainly reappeared over the last five months with the idea of annexing Canada.

Annexation? As a Canadian, yuck. (Canada will never be the 51^st state. Elbows up.)

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, May 29, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Mortal Matters; Fruit; Words Found In Juicy By Biggie; Ghosting; The Great Squall; Of China)

Geoff got off to a hot start and then found the Daily Double—at the break, he had a big lead with $7,200. Anne had $2,000 and Thomas $400.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Geoff 6 correct 0 incorrect
Anne 4 correct 1 incorrect
Thomas 1 correct 1 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Geoff wants to compete on the Great British Bake-Off.
Anne has won at least five raffles in her lifetime.
Thomas has been an assistant coach for his alma mater’s quiz bowl team.

All three players played well as Geoff continued to lead after 30 clues.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Geoff 8 correct 0 incorrect
Anne 9 correct 1 incorrect
Thomas 5 correct 1 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Geoff $8,400
Anne $4,000
Thomas $3,000

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Leading From The Front; On The Map; Religious Structures; Blended Words; Celebrity Women; Uh Oh, Here Comes “A.I.”)

Thomas had a brief moment of hope when he doubled up through DD2. However, Geoff got DD3 correct for $3,000, and while Anne went on a brief run to come close to breaking Geoff’s runaway, Geoff had things locked up going into the game’s last clue.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Geoff 20 correct 1 incorrect
Anne 17 correct 2 incorrect
Thomas 9 correct 4 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 30 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Geoff $23,000
Anne $9,600
Thomas $4,800

Geoff put an exclamation point on this one with a correct response; he’ll defend his title tomorrow!

Tonight’s results:

Thomas $4,800 – $4,800 = $0 (What is ?)
Anne $9,600 – $9,599 = $1 (What is a lost cause?)
Geoff $23,000 + $1,000 = $24,000 (What is manifest destiny?) (1-day total: $24,000)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) OF CHINA $600 (clue #12)
Geoff 3600 +3600 (Thomas 400 Anne -200)
2) LEADING FROM THE FRONT $1600 (clue #11)
Thomas 3000 +3000 (Anne 4800 Geoff 11200)
3) UH OH, HERE COMES “A.I.” $1600 (clue #14, $15200 left on board)
Geoff 12800 +3000 (Thomas 4800 Anne 4800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 223

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Thomas 5 4
Anne 4 3 5
Geoff 3 4 4 2 3 2 3*

DJ! Round:
Thomas 5 4 5 4* 3† 4
Anne 3 5
Geoff 2 3 3 4 3 4*

† – selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Geoff 3.08
Anne 4.00
Thomas 4.25

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 30 (0.16 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Geoff $18,600 Coryat, 20 correct, 1 incorrect, 33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Anne $9,600 Coryat, 17 correct, 2 incorrect, 31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Thomas $3,400 Coryat, 9 correct, 4 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $31,600
Lach Trash: $13,000 (on 14 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $9,400
Lead Changes: 0
Times Tied: 0

Player Statistics:

Thomas Sweeney, career statistics:

26 correct, 10 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
28.07% in first on buzzer (32/114)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,000)
1/2 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $7,100

Anne LaGatta, career statistics:

17 correct, 3 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
31.58% in first on buzzer (18/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $9,600

Geoff Barnes, career statistics:

21 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
33.33% in first on buzzer (19/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,600)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,600

Geoff Barnes, to win:

2 games: 63.253%
3: 40.009%
4: 25.307%
5: 16.008%
6: 10.125%
Avg. streak: 2.721 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:

• Today’s game being a runaway game means that no wagering suggestions will be posted.
• Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.

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