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Warning: This page contains spoilers for the May 16, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Authors) for Tuesday, May 16, 2023 (Season 39, Game 177):
In 1960 Jean-Paul Sartre wrote of this man’s “victorious attempt…to snatch every instant of his existence from his future death”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Lydia-Claire Kerrigan, a web development team lead from Lafayette, Tennessee |
Tom Winiarski, a media strategist from Briarcliff Manor, New York |
Ben Chan, a philosophy professor from Green Bay, Wisconsin (4-day total: $129,001) |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Ben Chan is once again your Jeopardy! champion after an absolutely dominant performance against 8-day champion Hannah Wilson. Thankfully, we will get to see Hannah this fall in postseason play. Now we’ll get to see how far Ben can go! Today’s challengers are Tom Winiarski and Lydia-Claire Kerrigan.
One thing I’ll be watching today: Since Jeopardy! changed its rules in 2003 to allow for unlimited winning streaks, no player has won their first five games in a runaway. There are a few known instances of this happening prior to 2003: Rick Knutsen in 2001, Robin Carroll in 2000, Chuck Forrest in 1985, Mike Day in 1985, and Elise Beraru in 1984 all have this verified by J! Archive, while Jonathan Groff claimed in his Ultimate Tournament of Champions interview in 2005 to have done so in his run in 1995 (but J! Archive does not have his run in order to officially verify that this took place).
One further thing that I noticed yesterday: there were a number of fans yesterday who were—and I’m going to put this charitably here—confused as to why Ben was returning. Local news articles were immensely clear on this point back in April: Ben was ill and unable to travel. The show has made accommodations for illnesses before, as putting any contestant in a position of “travel while very sick or you can’t play Jeopardy! any more”, like these fans yesterday were demanding in both my comment section here and on my Facebook page, is absolutely and completely inappropriate. Moreover, it is clear to me that the cavalier attitude that these fans have towards illness in the current times is one major reason why the pandemic of 2020 turned into the endemic of 2023. Congratulations.
Finally, according to J!6, today’s opening category is “Chillin’ in the R.I.P. Lounge.” I don’t know if it’s just me, and I’m becoming an old fuddy-duddy, but I feel that category title is slightly too irreverent for my tastes.
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Correct response: Who is Albert Camus?
You can find game-by-game stats here at The Jeopardy! Fan of all 15 players, including Matt Amodio, Jonathan Fisher, Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and Cris Pannullo, that have won 10 or more games on Jeopardy!
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
After Albert Camus’s 1960 death following a car accident, friend Jean-Paul Sartre wrote a tribute, which was published in The Reporter Magazine in February 1960; the quote pulled from that tribute for today’s Final Jeopardy—”the pure and victorious attempt of one man to snatch every instant of his existence from his future death“—seems, at least to my brain, to exemplify the absurdism that Camus was known for.
Camus’ final work, The First Man, was unfinished and in the car with Camus when the fatal accident happened; the work was published posthumously and incomplete in 1994.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, May 16, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Chillin’ In The R.I.P. Lounge; Poe Places; Automotive Alliteration; College: The Drop/Add Period; Pop Metal Bands; “B” Is The First Letter)
Ben and Tom had a tight game going—until Ben broke it open by getting a True Daily Double!
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Tom 6 correct 0 incorrect
Lydia-Claire 4 correct 0 incorrect
Ben 5 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Lydia-Claire tried to turn her elementary school principal into a frog.
Tom has been a Deadhead for 40 years.
Ben was tattooed in front of a live audience in college.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Ben 13 correct 1 incorrect
Tom 11 correct 0 incorrect
Lydia-Claire 6 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ben $13,200
Tom $6,600
Lydia-Claire $3,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Heaven On Earth; Women World Leaders; Animals; Don’T Go Anywhere; Twists; Turns)
Tom was within striking distance when he found the round’s first Daily Double, but an incorrect response knocked him out of contention. While Lydia-Claire played well in the back half of the round, Ben had a 5th runaway going into Final in 5 games!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Ben 24 correct 2 incorrect
Lydia-Claire 14 correct 1 incorrect
Tom 16 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 26 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Ben $26,400
Lydia-Claire $11,200
Tom $5,200
Ben got Final correct—he’s now a 5-time champion!
Tonight’s results:
Tom $5,200 – $5,000 = $200 (Who was Jerry Ga)
Lydia-Claire $11,200 – $8,800 = $2,400 (Who is Sisy?)
Ben $26,400 + $1,599 = $27,999 (Who is Camus?) (5-day total: $157,000)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) COLLEGE: THE DROP/ADD PERIOD $400 (clue #28)
Ben 6400 +6400 (Tom 6600 Lydia-Claire 3000)
2) DON’T GO ANYWHERE $2000 (clue #12)
Tom 11800 -5000 (Ben 18000 Lydia-Claire 4400)
3) HEAVEN ON EARTH $1200 (clue #16, $13600 left on board)
Ben 21200 +2000 (Tom 4800 Lydia-Claire 4400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 67
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Ben 4 5 3 5 4 5 3 5 4 5 3 2*
Tom 1 2 3 4 3 4 3 2 1 4 1
Lydia-Claire 1 2 1 5 2
DJ! Round:
Ben 4 3 2 4 4 4 3*
Tom 3 5 2 2 5* 5 4
Lydia-Claire 1 5
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Ben 3.79
Lydia-Claire 2.43
Tom 3.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 26 (0.15 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Ben $19,600 Coryat, 24 correct, 2 incorrect, 42.11% in first on buzzer (24/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Lydia-Claire $11,200 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Tom $10,200 Coryat, 16 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,000
Lach Trash: $7,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,800
Player Statistics:
Ben Chan, career statistics:
138 correct, 11 incorrect
4/5 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities)
44.56% in first on buzzer (127/285)
11/12 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $31,200)
4/5 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $23,080
Tom Winiarski, career statistics:
16 correct, 3 incorrect
3/3 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$5,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,200
Lydia-Claire Kerrigan, career statistics:
14 correct, 2 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,200
Ben Chan, to win:
6 games: 80.733%
7: 65.179%
8: 52.621%
9: 42.483%
10: 34.298%
Avg. streak: 9.190 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score: May 16, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Ben $26,400 Lydia-Claire $11,200 Tom $5,200)
Ben: Limit your bet to $3,999. (Actual bet: $1,599)
Tom: Bet whatever you like. (Actual bet: $5,000)
Lydia-Claire: Limit your bet to $799. (Actual bet: $8,800)
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