Today’s Final Jeopardy – Thursday, November 20, 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 Women Authors) for Thursday, November 20, 2025 (Season 42, Game 54):

In her 2016 New York Times obituary, this author was said to have “gained a reputation as a literary Garbo”

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Kara Brown, a payroll manager from Seattle, Washington

Blythe Roberson, a writer from Brooklyn, New York

Harrison Whitaker, a researcher originally from Terre Haute, Indiana (7-day total: $208,201)

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

As the finals of the 33^rd Tournament of Champions tapes today in “Jeopardy! Production Time”, “Jeopardy! Air Time” features the continuation of the run of the first player qualified for the 34^th Tournament of Champions in Harrison Whitaker. Harrison’s dominance has come mostly as a result of being very strong on regular clues—averaging just under 43 attempts a game and buzzing in successfully on two-thirds of those attempts. That being said, he has struggled on Daily Doubles; it almost seems like the extra thinking time on those Daily Doubles is working to his disadvantage, as it’s causing him to potentially think of incorrect responses before choosing the wrong one. (Certainly, it’s a phenomenon I haven’t seen a lot of on the Alex Trebek Stage.)

Harrison, though, is going for “octochamp” status today against Seattle’s Kara Brown and Brooklyn’s Blythe Roberson. I’d certainly like to see Harrison’s run continue for at least a little while longer (I always do cheer for longer runs as both ratings and website traffic demonstrably increase once champions do go on a run, even though some dinosaurs online still call for a return to the old days where contestants were limited to five victories. To me, it just proves that a great number of the diehard fans don’t actually have a clue as to how to operate things.)

Correct response: Who is Harper Lee?

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.)

Harper Lee, best known for 1960’s To Kill A Mockingbird, became increasingly private (much like Greta Garbo) after the publication of …Mockingbird, due to feeling uncomfortable with all of the publicity surrounding the classic of modern American literature.

Honestly, though: Why couldn’t this category have been just AUTHORS? Or, AMERICAN AUTHORS? Or even, SOUTHERN AUTHORS—especially considering that the correct response’s gender is given to the contestants in the clue itself? It feels like sometimes the writers need to be reminded not to regress to their old habits of the 1990s.

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, November 20, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: A.I. Is Coming For You; Homophones; Caldecott Medal & Honor Books; Anniversaries; Goodbye, Fish & Chips; International Hoops Terms With Cleanthony Early)

Harrison picked up 8 correct—including a correct Daily Double—to lead at the opening commercials. At that break, the scores were Harrison $6,200 Kara $1,800 Blythe -$200.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Harrison 8 correct 2 incorrect
Kara 4 correct 3 incorrect
Blythe 1 correct 1 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Kara enjoys Seattle’s 14/48 theatre festival.
Blythe exchanges letters with her father every week.
Harrison had a French teacher who allowed classmates to ask Harrison trivia.

Harrison picked up another 10 correct after the break to extend his lead.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Harrison 18 correct 3 incorrect
Kara 4 correct 4 incorrect
Blythe 3 correct 1 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Harrison $9,200
Kara $1,400
Blythe $200

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: Appropriately Named Places; Settle Down; Americana; Funny People; After U; 1929)

Kara found both Daily Doubles, and while she got one of them incorrect, a pair of other $2,000 correct responses meant that Harrison didn’t have a runaway entering Final Jeopardy.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Harrison 26 correct 4 incorrect
Kara 14 correct 6 incorrect
Blythe 10 correct 5 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Harrison $16,400
Kara $11,200
Blythe $3,000

Final Jeopardy was a triple stumper, which should have been advantage Kara. But she bet too much in Final, and that makes Harrison an 8-day champion! He’ll go for win #9 tomorrow.

Tonight’s results:

Blythe $3,000 – $3,000 = $0 (Who is Alice Monroe?)
Kara $11,200 – $5,201 = $5,999 (Who is Wolfe?)
Harrison $16,400 – $6,001 = $10,399 (Who is Well, it’s been fun!) (8-day total: $218,600)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) ANNIVERSARIES $1000 (clue #13)
Harrison 3600 +2600 (Blythe -200 Kara -200)
2) SETTLE DOWN $1200 (clue #8)
Kara 5800 -3000 (Harrison 10800 Blythe 1400)
3) APPROPRIATELY NAMED PLACES $2000 (clue #13, $17200 left on board)
Kara 2800 +2800 (Harrison 13600 Blythe -200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 120

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Harrison 4 3 3 4 4 3 5 4 3 5*
Blythe 3
Kara 4 3

DJ! Round:
Harrison 3 4 3 4
Blythe 3 4 4
Kara 3 3 3* 4† 4 5*

† – selection in same category as Daily Double

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Harrison 3.71
Kara 3.63
Blythe 3.50

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.11 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Harrison $14,800 Coryat, 26 correct, 4 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 6/6 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
Kara $13,400 Coryat, 14 correct, 6 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
Blythe $3,000 Coryat, 10 correct, 5 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $31,200
Lach Trash: $8,800 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $14,000
Lead Changes: 0
Times Tied: 2

Player Statistics:

Harrison Whitaker, career statistics:

228 correct, 24 incorrect
17/18 on rebound attempts (on 35 rebound opportunities)
45.61% in first on buzzer (208/456)
10/18 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $11,400)
6/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,375

Blythe Roberson, career statistics:

10 correct, 6 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $3,000

Kara Brown, career statistics:

14 correct, 7 incorrect
2/3 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$200)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,400

Harrison Whitaker, to win:

9 games: 66.517%
10: 44.245%
11: 29.431%
12: 19.576%
13: 13.022%
Avg. streak: 9.987 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:

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

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Harrison $16,400 Kara $11,200 Blythe $3,000)

Harrison: Standard cover bet over Kara is $6,001. If you really think Kara is going to bet small, you can defend against that by betting between $2 and $4,398. (Actual bet: $6,001)

Blythe: If Kara bets $5,201, you could take second here by going all in. Do so. (Actual bet: $3,000)

Kara: Bet between $0 and $799 and hope that Harrison gets Final Jeopardy incorrect. (Actual bet: $5,201)

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