Who won Jeopardy! tonight? December 1, 2022, Thursday

Cris Pannullo returned to play in a new episode of Jeopardy! Season 39, which aired on Thursday, December 1, 2022.

So far, the 18-day champion has beaten the record of Mattea Roach, the third-highest scorer of season 38. She won 23 games and scored $570,983. Cris, on the other hand, banked a total of $637,923 by winning 18 games.

In the December 1 episode, Cris returned to the show to compete against two new players — Rob Lamanna, a product manager from Whitby, Ontario, Canada, and Jeri Zulli, an English professor from East Setauket, New York.

The returning champion is a customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey.

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Cris Pannullo

The December 1 episode turned out to be pretty intense towards the end. New player Rob Lamanna almost missed surpassing Cris Pannullo’s score.

In the latest episode, the categories for the first round included “Remembering Olivia Newton-John, Nickname’s The Same, Geography, Doctor-Ing Up Literature, 1, 2 & 3, Dollars To Donuts.”

Cris was active on the signaling device from the start. He ended up giving 19 correct answers and banking five figures, $11,600. Rob delivered six and Jeri Zulli gave two correct responses, respectively. While Rob scored $3,800, Jeri banked $1,400 in round 1. None of the players delivered incorrect answers.

In the second round of the Ken Jennings-hosted show, the categories were “Biblical Demons Devils & Spirits, Role In Common, World Museums, Hit The Sauce, Every Man A King, Contractions.”

Cris was unlucky in finding the Daily Doubles today. The first one went to Rob, while Jeri picked the second in the Double Jeopardy round. However, none of the new players could surpass Cris’ total score. He banked $27,600 in round 2, while Rob scored $14,200 and Jeri made $3,900.

The Final Jeopardy round was quite interesting. Cris and Rob’s answers to the final question were correct. As Rob won his wagering amount, his total score came closer to Cris’, but couldn’t beat it. The Ontario native missed winning the latest episode with a difference of $2,021. On the other hand, Jeri gave an incorrect answer and continued to be in third place.

Hence, Cris Pannullo won Jeopardy! today.

Cris Pannullo: Tonight's winner (Image via Jeopardy)

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Final Jeopardy! results today

The category of the final round’s question in the December 1 episode was “Language & Its Meanings.” The final question, in the form of a clue, read:

“Now meaning someone with nocturnal habits, it catches a sleeping dove in Shakespeare’s “…Lucrece.”

The answer to the final question was “Night owl.”

While Cris and Rob gave the correct answer, Jeri wrote, “sleepwalking.” Take a look at the final results of the December 1 episode:

Cris Pannullo: $27,600 + $1,221 = $28,821 (What is night owl) (19-day total: $666,744)

Rob Lamanna: $14,200 + $12,600 = $26,800 (What is a night owl?)

Jeri Zulli: $3,900 – $100 = $3,800 (What is sleepwalking?)

With today’s win, Cris became the 19-day champion of Jeopardy! Season 39. He is the first player of the season to score this high so far. He banked $666,744 on Thursday’s episode and is not far away from beating the scores of season 38’s second-highest scorer, Matt Amodio ($1,528,601).

Cris has already earned a spot in the Tournament of Champions. Seeing his progress, he might have advanced directly to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, the Ocean City native will return to play against two new players to defend his win. The next episode will air on Friday. December 2, 2022.