Today’s Final Jeopardy – Tuesday, October 21, 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

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 U.S.A.) for Tuesday, October 21, 2025 (Season 42, Game 32):

When area codes were introduced 3 very populous areas got the ones quickest to dial: these 3 codes

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Tom Devlin, an attorney from Washington, D.C.

Elyse Erdman, a director of social media originally from Hershey, Pennsylvania

Dargan Ware, an attorney & writer from Bessemer, Alabama (2-day total: $47,801)

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

In a game that a lot of people didn’t get to see last night thanks to Monday Night Football and the American League Championship Series, Dargan Ware picked up victory #2. (My condolences go out to any Mariners fan readers, including our show’s intrepid host—your team played extremely well over the seven games, and we’ll do our best to make any Dodgers fans regret any potential premature celebrations that I might have seen on social media over the past few days.) Today, he goes for win #3 (and a very likely spot in the Tournament of Champions at this point) against Washington D.C.’s Tom Devlin and Hershey, Pennsylvania’s Elyse Erdman.

That being said, the return of the NBA to NBC, and the opening night over in what sportscasters would once often call “The Association”, is going to cause preemptions if you watch the show on an NBC affiliate in the evening. Check your local listings (or Matt Carberry’s usual Google sheet of preemptions.) Noteworthy this morning is that Knoxville, Tennessee is showing the game at 11:30 AM Eastern. Depending on my own timing today (pursuant to what I said yesterday), the recap may be up earlier, it could be up at its normal time, or it could be later.

Finally, this is a reminder to all of my Canadian readers that you should never use Purolator for any of your delivery needs. They are easily the worst delivery service in Canada, as they are completely incapable of making deliveries to the correct address.

Correct response: What are 212, 213 & 312?

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.)

When the North American Numbering Plan was first unveiled in 1947, the idea was to give the most populous areas quicker area codes to dial on a rotary phone: the numbers 1 and 2 were easiest as they were closest to the finger stop, while 9 and 0 took the longest. Thus, the largest population centers—New York City, southern California (Los Angeles), and northeastern Illinois (Chicago) received the three easiest area codes to dial: 212 (New York), 213 (SoCal), and 312 (Chicago). Conversely, less populated areas received area codes that took longer to dial: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick were all originally 902, while South Carolina was 803, North Carolina 704, Tennessee 901, and Vermont 802. (Remember as well that N11 codes, such as the most famous, 911, were reserved for various local services (emergency services in the case of 911), so they could not be assigned to area codes.)

Area codes have sometimes become integrated in various contestants’ wagering strategies over the years: I have seen Washington, DC-area contestants sometimes try to integrate the number 202 (their area code) into a wager or final score, while a minor controversy brewed online in the fall of 2019 when a Chicago-area contestant wagered $1,312 on a Daily Double (intending for it to be part of the city’s area code; I’ll leave finding the alternate meaning of that number as an exercise for a reader who does not know in 2025.)

This is another Final Jeopardy clue that will be strikingly easy for the older viewers at home who would have grown up in an era before touch-tone phones existed, let alone cellular phones. This might also be very gettable by someone younger who’s more curious about how the world works, potentially prompting them to ask, “Why does New York/Chicago/etc. have the area code(s) that it does?” Ken Jennings has always said that sort of natural curiosity makes for a great contestant, and today’s Final proves that.

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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, October 21, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: World Landmarks; Crudités; Words For The People; This, That & The Other Thing; Movie Prequels; Autumn Leaves)

Tom picked up 11 correct responses, and a True Daily Double, as he jumped out to a huge lead. After 15 clues, the scores were Tom $12,000 Dargan $1,200 Elyse $600.

Statistics at the first break (15 clues):

Tom 11 correct 0 incorrect
Dargan 3 correct 2 incorrect
Elyse 1 correct 0 incorrect

Today’s interviews:

Tom was a Shania Twain backup singer for 3 minutes.
Elyse was a competitive gymnast.
Dargan has been trying to get on Jeopardy! for nearly 30 years.

Tom picked up another handful of clues as he extended his lead.

Statistics after the Jeopardy round:

Tom 18 correct 1 incorrect
Dargan 10 correct 2 incorrect
Elyse 2 correct 1 incorrect

Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:

Tom $15,600
Dargan $3,800
Elyse $600

Double Jeopardy! Round:

(Categories: The President’s Presents; Celebrities; Starts With A Doubled Vowel; Science; In Da Club; Get Rich Or Die Tryin’)

Dargan was in a very distant deficit—and then he found both Daily Doubles on successive clues. He got them both correct, picking up $17,600, and jumping into a lead he would not relinquish.

Statistics after Double Jeopardy:

Dargan 21 correct 3 incorrect
Tom 30 correct 3 incorrect
Elyse 4 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 6 (0 today).

Scores going into Final:

Dargan $31,800
Tom $27,200
Elyse $1,000

This Final Jeopardy was a Triple Stumper; Dargan went for the cover bet, and that makes Tom your new champion! He’ll be back tomorrow to defend.

Tonight’s results:

Elyse $1,000 – $0 = $1,000 (What is thanks for having me :))
Tom $27,200 – $4,601 = $22,599 (What are 202, 212, 222?) (1-day total: $22,599)
Dargan $31,800 – $23,200 = $8,600 (What are 312, 212, 202)

Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:

Daily Double locations:

1) WORDS FOR THE PEOPLE $600 (clue #7)
Tom 4400 +4400 (Dargan -800 Elyse 0)
2) GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN’ $1200 (clue #14)
Dargan 8600 +8600 (Elyse 200 Tom 26000)
3) IN DA CLUB $1200 (clue #15, $16000 left on board)
Dargan 17200 +9000 (Elyse 200 Tom 26000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 252

Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:

J! Round:
Dargan 3
Elyse
Tom 4 4 4 4 3 3*

DJ! Round:
Dargan 3 4 5 3 3* 3*
Elyse 1 2
Tom 4 4 3 3 5 5 2

Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:

Tom 3.69
Dargan 3.43
Elyse 1.50

Unplayed clues:

J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 6 (0.19 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles

Game Stats:

Tom $23,400 Coryat, 30 correct, 3 incorrect, 50.88% in first on buzzer (29/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Dargan $16,600 Coryat, 21 correct, 3 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Elyse $1,000 Coryat, 4 correct, 2 incorrect, 7.02% in first on buzzer (4/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,000
Lach Trash: $6,800 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,200
Lead Changes: 2
Times Tied: 0

Player Statistics:

Dargan Ware, career statistics:

72 correct, 11 incorrect
0/3 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
42.11% in first on buzzer (72/171)
5/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $32,800)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $20,867

Elyse Erdman, career statistics:

4 correct, 3 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
7.02% in first on buzzer (4/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $1,000

Tom Devlin, career statistics:

30 correct, 4 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
50.88% in first on buzzer (29/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,400)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,400

Tom Devlin, to win:

2 games: 66.494%
3: 44.215%
4: 29.400%
5: 19.549%
6: 12.999%
Avg. streak: 2.985 games.

Andy’s Thoughts:

• Before anyone criticizes Dargan’s wager on DD3, even if he went all in, Tom still would have been within two-thirds going into Final Jeopardy.
• Tom surpasses Adam Levin’s record ($27,000) as the highest non-leading score entering Final Jeopardy.
• Today’s J!6 clues can be found at the monthly archive.

Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:

(Scores: Dargan $31,800 Tom $27,200 Elyse $1,000)

Dargan: Standard cover bet is $22,601. (Actual bet: $23,200)

Elyse: You need two massive overbets to have a chance. Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $0)

Tom: Bet between $9,201 (in case Dargan makes a small bet) and $17,999 (staying ahead of Dargan’s cover bet if you both are incorrect.) (Actual bet: $4,601)

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