Who won Jeopardy! tonight? December 19, 2022, Monday

Jeopardy! Season 39 started the week with a brand new episode, featuring two-day winner Ray Lalonde.

In the December 19 episode, he played against two new contestants — Andrew Schmidt, an automotive marketing consultant from Roswell, Georgia, and Miranda Onnen, an assistant Attorney General from Astoria, New York.

Hosted by Ken Jennings, the latest season’s format description reads:

“The answers are given first, and the contestants supply the questions. Three contestants, including the previous show's champion, compete in six categories and in three rounds (with each round's ‘answers’ being worth more prize money).”

It further states:

“In the third round, ‘Final Jeopardy,’ the contestants can name their own jackpot -- as long as it's within the amount of money they've already earned. If a player finishes the second round with zero dollars, they are eliminated (from the final round).”

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Ray Lalonde

Ray Lalonde returned to the game show on Monday, December 19, 2022, to play his third game against two new players. He gave his fellow contenders some tough competition.

The first round’s categories included “Christmas Traditions Elsewhere, Life Snapshots, Birds Are Real, Repeating Numbers, Television Then & Now, Anagrammed Occupations.”

Before the first commercial break, Ray was not in his form as he correctly answered only three questions and gave one wrong answer. New player Miranda Onnen started off on a good note with seven correct answers, while Andrew Schmidt delivered five correct responses. After the commercial break, Ray got his confidence back and won the first round. The scores going into the second round were Ray at $7,000, Miranda at $5,800, and Andrew at $2,800.

In the second round, the categories were “Historic Women, 2, 3 Or 4-Letter Geography, Americana, Movie Characters, “In The”, Line Of Fire.”

The Double Jeopardy round was led by Ray as he found both the Daily Doubles, which helped his scores take a big leap. While his total score was $31,600, his fellow players’ respective scores couldn’t surpass the $10,000 mark. Miranda banked $9,800 and Andrew scored $4,000.

Thanks to Ray’s whopping amount, his score didn’t get affected after losing a bet in the Final Jeopardy round. Only Miranda gave the correct answer to the final question and earned her wagering amount, which was only $200. Ray and Andrew, on the other hand, lost the bet. On the scoreboard, Ray was still at the top.

Hence, Ray Lalonde won Jeopardy! today.

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

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Final Jeopardy! results today

The category for the final round of the December 19 episode was “Brand Names.” The final question/clue read:

"Unable to make these candies perfectly round, the confectioner embraced this flawed name for the product.”

The correct answer to the final clue was “Milk Duds.”

Only Miranda answered the final question correctly, while Ray wrote “gummy bears” and Andrew guessed “Hershey's Kiss.”

Take a look at the final results of the December 19 episode:

Ray Lalonde: $31,600 – $7,400 = $24,200 (What are gummy bears?) (3-day total: $84,800)

Miranda Onnen: $9,800 + $200 = $10,000 (What are milk duds?)

Andrew Schmidt: $4,000 – $2,727 = $1,273 (What is Hershey's Kiss?)

Despite giving an incorrect answer in the final round, Ray managed to win today’s game and became the three-day champion. The scenic artist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, first appeared on the game show on Thursday, December 15, 2022, and defeated three-day winner Sean McShane.

Meanwhile, Ray will return to the competition series to play his fourth game. If he becomes a four-day winner, then he will earn a spot in the Tournament of Champions.

The next episode will air on Tuesday, December 20, 2022.