Weekend Jeopardy! Recap – December 20 & 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 Presidential Nominees) for December 20-21, 2025 (Season 41, Game 160):

The year the Democratic nominee gave his “Cross of Gold” speech, the GOP nominee was this man who backed the gold standard

(correct response beneath the contestants)

Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:

Liam Starnes, an undergraduate student from Barrington, Illinois

Rachael Gray, a graduate student from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Steven Hoying, an attorney-at-law from Hilliard, Ohio (1-day total: $29,403)

Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:

The revisiting of last April’s games in encore presentations continues this week with the first game of fan favorite Liam Starnes; this game saw him face off against defending champion Steven Hoying and eventual Second Chance invitee Rachael Gray.

Tomorrow’s Week 2 Second Chance preview will be posted tomorrow; Monday’s game will be the first that is split into “Today’s Final Jeopardy” (no login required, no comments) and “Daily Details” (TJF Plus login required and comments) sections.

Correct response: Who is William McKinley?

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 midst of a heated national debate as to whether or not to adopt the gold standard, William Jennings Bryan, thanks to the words “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”, arguing that both gold and silver should be legal tender, propelled himself to the Democratic presidential nomination. The GOP nominee—who went on to defeat Bryan in the general, was William McKinley. America went on the gold standard in 1900.

In order to redesign our merchandise area to serve you better in 2026, all merchandise sales have been temporarily taken offline. Look for a return in late 2026! All previous orders will still be supported.

Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the December 20-21, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:

Note: If you’d like to see the full statistics from this game, check out the original recap, from April 18, 2025.

Game Recap:

Although Rachael led after 30 clues, Liam picked up the first 6 clues of Double Jeopardy, ending with picking up $6,000 on DD2. While Rachael found DD3, she made a conservative bet and sat second entering Final Jeopardy by less than what she left on the table on DD3.

Thankfully for Rachael, her conservative bet on that Daily Double didn’t come back to haunt her too much, as she also was incorrect in Final Jeopardy; Liam and Steven were both correct in Final, as Liam went on to win his first game.

Next week will see Liam go for win #2 against Bob Callen and Maja Vlajnic.

Scores going into Final:

Liam $19,600
Rachael $16,200
Steven $13,800

Tonight’s results:

Steven $13,800 + $6,000 = $19,800 (Who was William McKinley?)
Rachael $16,200 – $12,000 = $4,200 (Who was Taft?)
Liam $19,600 + $12,801 = $32,401 (Who is McKinley?) (1-day total: $32,401)

Game Stats:

Liam $15,200 Coryat, 17 correct, 1 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Steven $13,000 Coryat, 16 correct, 1 incorrect, 28.07% in first on buzzer (16/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Rachael $13,400 Coryat, 17 correct, 0 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,600
Lach Trash: $9,800 (on 10 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $2,600
Lead Changes: 1
Times Tied: 0

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