Two-day champion Matthew Marcus returned to Jeopardy! Season 39 on Monday, February 6, 2023, to play his third game.
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, the software developer scored $66,000 from his two games. In the latest episode, he played against two new contenders — Tanya Parrott, a librarian from Gainesville, Virginia, and Jesse Lampert, a sales executive from Los Angeles, California.
The official description of the game show 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 continues:
“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].”
None of the players were eliminated before the third round in the new episode.
Today's Jeopardy! winner is Matthew Marcus
Matthew Marcus first appeared on the show on the February 2 episode and won his first game. He has maintained his winning streak so far.
In the latest episode, the categories for the first round were “Months That Start With Feb, Wine Tasting 101, U.S. Museums, Add A Letter At The Start, Doctor Who, Parts & Labor.”
Matthew was having a great time as he gave the maximum number of correct answers in round 1. Despite that, he landed in second place and the reason was the Daily Double. He found the first Daily Double before the commercial break but lost it by giving an incorrect answer. While he ranked second, new player Tanya Parrott took the lead by delivering eight correct responses with zero wrong answers.
Jesse Lampert was also not far behind and ended up in third place. The round 1 scores of the players were: Tanya at $4,200 Matthew at $3,800 Jesse at $3,400.
In the second round of the Ken Jennings-hosted episode, the categories included “Train Routes, Hot Tunes, Prisoners Of War, S-SS-ing The Situation, The Iliad & The Odyssey, You Can Call Me Homer.”
Tanya could have won the Double Jeopardy round as well, but her conservative bets on both Daily Doubles landed her in second place. She wagered $1,000, respectively, as she found both Daily Doubles. She banked $10,600, while Matthew got his chance to take the lead in this round. He scored $13,400 and Jesse banked $4,600.
In the Final Jeopardy round, all three players gave the correct answer to the final question. While Jesse and Matthew didn’t shy away from betting big amounts, Tanya again went with the lowest amount in the final round. She bet only one dollar in the final round and landed in second place, followed by Jesse in third.
Hence, Matthew Marcus won Jeopardy! today.
Final Jeopardy! results today
In the final round of the February 6 episode, the category was “Inventions,” and the question, in the form of a clue, read:
“1917’s ‘Elements of Trench Warfare’ said this Old West item was ‘difficult to destroy’ & ‘difficult to get through.’”
The correct response to the final clue was “Barbed Wire.”
All three players correctly answered the final question. Take a look at the final results of the February 6 episode:
Matthew Marcus: $13,400 + $8,000 = $21,400 (What is barbed wire) (3-day total: $87,400)
Tanya Parrott: $10,600 + $1 = $10,601 (What is bard barbed wire?)
Jesse Lampert: $4,600 + $4,599 = $9,199 (What is barbed wire?)
With today’s win, Matthew became the three-day champion with a score of $87,400. He will return in the next episode to play his fourth game and if he wins that, he will advance to the Tournament of Champions (ToC).
The syndicated game show will air its next episode on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.