Who won Jeopardy! tonight? December 15, 2022, Thursday

The brand new episode of Jeopardy! Season 39 aired on Thursday, December 15, 2022, featuring three-day winner Sean McShane.

On Thursday’s episode, the non-profit membership associate, originally from West Islip, New York, played his fourth game against two new players — Ray Lalonde, a scenic artist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Allie Kallman Wegner, a researcher from Broomfield, Colorado.

The official description of the game show reads:

“A returning champion and two challengers test their buzzer skills and their knowledge in a wide range of academic and popular categories.”

Sean’s total score, after three games, was $80,401. The returning champion became the only player to win more than one game since 21-day winner Cris Pannullo’s exit.

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Ray Lalonde

Returning champion Sean McShane tried his level best to win the December 15 episode, but couldn’t match the intelligence and buzzer speed of the new player, Ray Lalonde.

In the latest episode, the categories for the first round included “Droning On Across America, Brief Lives, Dutch Treat, New Musical Supergroups, Giving You Some T-L-C, Tables, Ladders & Chairs.”

Ray and Sean gave each other tough competition. They played a head-to-head match, with the former bagging the first Daily Double. He correctly answered 12 questions and banked $6,600. Despite his efforts, Sean took the lead in round 1 by giving 11 correct answers, scoring $7,800. Allie Kallman Wegner, on the other hand, earned $2,600 by delivering five correct responses.

The categories for the second round were “Here’S The Play Of The Day!, A Short Category, History In Art, Another Name For That Condition, Asian Americans, The Name As A Past Tense Verb.”

The scoreboard changed in the Double Jeopardy round of the Ken Jennings-hosted show. Ray found a Daily Double again and scored $4,000 to his total and took the lead in round 2. The second Daily Double went to Allie, who attempted to match the scores of her fellow players by wagering a whopping $7,000.

Unfortunately, she lost the bet and landed in third place. Sean tried his best to beat Ray’s score but failed to do so. The players’ scores in the second round were: Ray $22,600, Sean $16,600, and Allie $4,800.

The Final Jeopardy round was all-win for the players. They gave the correct answer to the final question and won their wagering money. While Allie didn’t take risks and wagered zero dollars, Ray and Sean wagered $10,000, respectively. As Ray was already leading the scoreboard, his total score defeated Sean in the December 15 episode.

Hence, Ray Lalonde won Jeopardy! today.

Ray Lalonde: Tonight's winner (Image via @OneEclecticMom/Twitter)

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Final Jeopardy! results today

The category for the final round in the December 15 episode was “Action Movies,” and the clue read:

“Its last line is 'If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta be here for New Year’s.'”

The correct response to the final question was “Die Hard.”

Today’s final category and the clue was one of the easiest rounds on the game show. All three players answered correctly and won their wagering amounts.

Take a look at the final results of the December 15 episode:

Ray Lalonde: $22,600 + $10,000 = $32,600 (What is Die Hard?) (1-day total: $32,600)

Sean McShane: $16,600 + $10,000 = $26,600 (What is Die Hard?)

Allie Kallman Wegner: $4,800 + $0 = $4,800 (What is Die Hard?)

Ray became the one-day winner by defeating three-day champion Sean in today’s episode. Unfortunately, Sean couldn’t continue his family’s legacy after aiming to win at least four games as his cousin Dan McShane was a four-day winner on a 2013 episode of Jeopardy!. The New York native also lost the chance to advance to the Tournament of Champions.

Meanwhile, today’s winner, Ray, will return to defend his win in the next episode, which will air on Friday, December 16, 2022.