recaps
Today’s Final Jeopardy answer (in the category Writers) and a recap of the Tuesday, September 8, 2026 game between Drew Goins, Karen Farrell, and Long Nguyen.
Today's Final Jeopardy - Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Current Champion
Anthony Cantor, career statistics:
86 correct, 9 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 19 rebound opportunities)
35.09% in first on buzzer (80/228)
4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,600)
2/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,850
To win:
5 games: 63.538%
6: 40.371%
7: 25.651%
8: 16.298%
9: 10.355%
Avg. streak: 5.743 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)
November 7-8: S42 E180 (May 15, 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
Are you looking for today’s Jeopardy! Masters recap? Find that here!
Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 8, 2026, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that today's game is an encore presentation of the game that originally aired on February 17, 2026.
Here's today's Final Jeopardy (in the category Writers) for Tuesday, September 8, 2026 (Season 42, Game 117):
The winner of 3 Pulitzer Prizes in 2 different categories, he called his home in Connecticut "the house the bridge built"
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today's Jeopardy! contestants:
Andy's Pregame Thoughts:
Our encore presentation for regular Jeopardy! today features Semifinal #3 from last February's Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament; our three players were Long Nguyen, Karen Farrell, and Drew Goins.
This is your reminder that at 8:00 (7:00 Central) on ABC and CTV, the two-game total-point Jeopardy! Masters final airs. (I will refrain from mentioning who the finalists are on this post in case others aren't caught up.)
In other Jeopardy! news, I am not sure what is happening with the "J!6" clues on the website; as best as I can tell, they have not been updated since Friday, September 4. I am unable to tell at this point whether the show has elected to retire this for Season 43, or if it's a temporary glitch. I am certainly hoping that it's the latter.
(Content continues below)
Would you like to be a guest on my new Jeopartalk! podcast? Friends are welcome to contact me via any method you have for me; current contestants who need that information can find my email in the About section.
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.
Are you looking for information on how to stream Jeopardy! in 2026? Find out information here on how to stream from most places in North America!
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 23 players, including Caleb Groen, Adam Remsen, Tristan Williams and Jamie Ding, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
Correct response: Who is Thornton Wilder?
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.)
Thornton Wilder's three Pulitzer Prizes came for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth; the royalties from The Bridge of San Luis Rey in the 1920s paid for the house on Deepwood Drive in Hamden, Connecticut, built for Wilder's parents in 1929. The author lived there with his sister later in life.
If you remember who wrote The Bridge of San Luis Rey, this should be a relatively straightforward Final. If you get taken on the wrong bridge, though (remembering that Pierre Boulle, author of The Bridge over the River Kwai, was French), you might be in trouble.
Game Recap & Tonight's Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here's the Tuesday, September 8, 2026 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Landlocked In; Words With A Silent Letter; I'M Cleaning Out The Garage; Green Stuff; All Sorts Of Entertainment; Poem Add A Letter)All three of our players had a good opening segment; Karen got the Daily Double, Drew ran a category, and Long picked up three high-value correct responses to sit second. At the interviews, the scores were Drew $3,000 Long $2,600 Karen $2,400.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Drew 6 correct 1 incorrectLong 3 correct 0 incorrect
Karen 4 correct 0 incorrect
Today's interviews:
Drew now writes for "The Atlantic".Karen would watch Jeopardy! with her mother, who passed unexpectedly last fall.
Long lost $500 on a Raiders Super Bowl futures bet after his last appearance.
Long picked up 7 after the break to take the lead after 30 clues. On the opening board, Drew ran words with a silent letter, while Long went 3/5 in stuff in a garage and Karen went 3/5 in "Poem Add A Letter".
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Long 10 correct 1 incorrectDrew 10 correct 1 incorrect
Karen 6 correct 0 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Long $5,600Drew $4,600
Karen $3,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: The Comeback; Maps & Globes; Opera; Britspeak; Celebrity Collectives; Are You Knot Entertained?)Long had an opportunity to run away with this one when he found the Daily Doubles incredibly early and on back-to-back clues. Unfortunately, an incorrect response on the second kept things close. Drew rebounded to tie for the lead, but a last turning point came when he failed to phrase his response in the form of a question as Long led entering Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Long 20 correct 4 incorrectDrew 18 correct 3 incorrect
Karen 12 correct 0 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 8 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Long $15,800Drew $12,200
Karen $10,000
In spite of an interesting Final Jeopardy wager from the lead, Long was the only player correct in Final Jeopardy—and that makes him our third finalist! He'll take on Andrew He and Roger Craig in our "first-to-two-win" final starting tomorrow.
Tonight's results:
Karen $10,000 - $0 = $10,000 (Who is ?)Drew $12,200 - $12,197 = $3 (Who is Agee? :))
Long $15,800 + $5,001 = $20,801 (Who is Wilder?) (Finalist)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) POEM ADD A LETTER $600 (clue #2)Karen 800 +1000 (Long 0 Drew 0)
2) MAPS & GLOBES $1600 (clue #2)
Long 7200 +7200 (Karen 3600 Drew 4600)
3) OPERA $1200 (clue #3, $31600 left on board)
Long 14400 -5000 (Karen 3600 Drew 4600)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 165
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Long 4Karen 3*
Drew
DJ! Round:
Long 4* 3*Karen 4
Drew
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Long 3.67Karen 3.50
Drew 0.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 8 (0.07 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Long $15,200 Coryat, 20 correct, 4 incorrect, 35.09% in first on buzzer (20/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)Karen $9,600 Coryat, 12 correct, 0 incorrect, 14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Drew $12,200 Coryat, 18 correct, 3 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $37,000
Lach Trash: $10,200 (on 9 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,800
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 4
Player Statistics:
Long Nguyen, career statistics:
146 correct, 23 incorrect9/12 on rebound attempts (on 27 rebound opportunities)
34.84% in first on buzzer (139/399)
9/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $22,200)
6/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,686
Karen Farrell, career statistics:
273 correct, 33 incorrect20/25 on rebound attempts (on 64 rebound opportunities)
35.73% in first on buzzer (253/708)
9/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,900)
10/13 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $15,400
Drew Goins, career statistics:
256 correct, 38 incorrect10/13 on rebound attempts (on 48 rebound opportunities)
37.13% in first on buzzer (254/684)
11/15 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $23,600)
5/12 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,117
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