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Jeopardy - Season 43 - Episode 23: 2026 Tournament of Champions Final Game 1
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00:02From the Alex Rebeck stage at Sony Pictures Studios, this is the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions!
00:15Introducing the finalists, a marketing specialist from San Francisco, California, T.J. Fisher.
00:23A puzzle writer, originally from San Diego, California, Paolo Pasco.
00:30And an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, Scott Riccardi.
00:36And now, here is the host of Jeopardy, Ken Jennings!
00:43Thank you, Johnny Gilbert, and welcome everyone to the finals of the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions.
00:49From a field of 21, only three now remain.
00:53Scott Riccardi, Paolo Pasco, and T.J. Fisher.
00:56This year's finals will once again follow a first-to-three-wins format, which means we could play as few
01:02as three games, or it could go all the way to seven.
01:05Today, we kick off game number one, which, based on the level of play we've seen in the TOC so
01:09far, I'm sure will lead to an exciting finals.
01:12Good luck to all three of you. Let's see what categories we have as we kick off the Jeopardy! round.
01:17We begin on the border, then it's literary biography, we have rugs, not drugs, good message for the kids, then
01:27apt anagrams, the fielder method, and finally, short and sweet.
01:33Scott?
01:34On the border for 600.
01:36The thick marshland and jungle of the Darien Gap, which separates North and South America, is on the border between
01:42these two nations.
01:44Paolo?
01:44What are Panama and Colombia?
01:45Correct.
01:46Apt anagrams, 1,000.
01:48Henry the Ape, shut them down. Amen stories.
01:51Scott?
01:52What are monasteries?
01:53Correct.
01:54Border for 800.
01:54This Egyptian port city that lends its name to an important conduit lies in Africa, right on the edge of
02:01Asia.
02:01Scott?
02:02What is Suez?
02:03Right.
02:03Border for 1,000.
02:05With about 2,500 staff members, CERN's particle physics research lab straddles parts of these two nations.
02:12TJ?
02:13What are Switzerland and France?
02:14Those are correct.
02:16Literary biography for eight.
02:17The composition of Easter 1916 is part of The Arch Poet, Volume 2 of RF Foster's Life of This Man.
02:25Scott?
02:26Who is Yates?
02:26Yes.
02:27Literary biography for 1,000.
02:29Biographer James Atlas coped with the inadvertently comic name of this In Dreams Begin Responsibilities author.
02:36Scott?
02:37Who is Balzac?
02:38No.
02:39Paolo or TJ?
02:41I can't top that.
02:43It's almost as funny.
02:44Delmore Schwartz.
02:45Back to you, Scott.
02:46Uh, literary biography for 600.
02:49Answer.
02:50Daily double.
02:54You have $1,600 right now, Scott.
02:57What's the bet?
02:58Uh, Ken?
02:58I'm gonna bet the whole thing.
03:00All right.
03:01Going for 3,200 in literary biography.
03:04Here's your clue, Scott.
03:05Richard Lingaman subtitled his biography of Sinclair Lewis, Rebel from This Tidal Road.
03:15What is Main Street?
03:17Main Street is the Wright Sinclair Lewis work, yes.
03:20Taking you to $3,200.
03:24Apt anagrams for 800.
03:26The people who do that.
03:28Moonstarers.
03:29Paolo.
03:30What are astronomers?
03:31Yes.
03:32Apt anagrams for 600.
03:33There's a limit to how much you can spend with one.
03:36Bad credit.
03:37Paolo.
03:38What is debit card?
03:39Right.
03:40The fielder method for 600.
03:42The third man, fine leg, and gully are fielding positions in this sport.
03:47Paolo.
03:48What is cricket?
03:49That is the sport.
03:50Short and sweet for six.
03:51Products from frosted cinnamon roll pop tarts to Canada Dry tonic water use this, HFCS, to sweeten things up.
03:59TJ.
04:00What is high fructose corn syrup?
04:02Right.
04:03Rugs for eight.
04:04There's no high like a shopping high.
04:06Browse online for a new rug made from this five-letter agave fiber also used to make rope.
04:14What is sisal?
04:16TJ.
04:17Short for four.
04:18Want these, RKTs, to be extra good?
04:21Brown the butter before adding the marshmallows.
04:24TJ.
04:24What are Rice Krispie treats?
04:26That's it.
04:27Rugs for four.
04:28Who needs sleeping pills?
04:30Curl up and take a long nap on a fluffy wool floccati, the Greek version of this type of long
04:35-napped rug.
04:36Paolo.
04:37It's like a shag carpet?
04:38Yes.
04:39A shag rug.
04:40Rugs not drugs for six.
04:42The world's largest hand-woven carpet is in the Sheikh Zayed Grand one of these buildings,
04:46where drugs are haram or forbidden by Islam.
04:50Scott.
04:50What is a mosque?
04:51Mosque is correct.
04:52You have an early lead, Scott.
04:53But all three of the finalists playing very well.
04:55The Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions finals will continue in a moment.
04:59TJ Fisher made it to the quarterfinals, the semifinals, to be on the stage right now.
05:04You're a marketing specialist from San Francisco.
05:06And after your original Jeopardy! run, you had kind of a cool celeb encounter, right?
05:10I was shouted at on Instagram by Kelly Ripa, who was the host of Live for a number of years,
05:15which is how I first knew her.
05:16And I said to myself, wouldn't it be great if I heard from authors, if I heard from mayors?
05:21And when Kelly Ripa talked about me on Instagram, I was so thrilled.
05:25She's fabulous.
05:26It was a nice surprise.
05:27Did you get a clue right about her or does she just love making Jeopardy! players feel good?
05:30No, she just watches me and she wanted to talk about me.
05:32Just a fan.
05:33Yeah, it was a clue she and Marc Consuelo met on the set and so that was the clue.
05:36Right, right.
05:37Well, that's great.
05:37They are the nicest.
05:38Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer originally from San Diego.
05:42You did not have to play in the quarterfinals.
05:43You were seeded right into the semis and won your game.
05:46We know you're a fan of pigeons.
05:48Your girlfriend, I guess, is a fan as well now.
05:50Yeah, so between the break from my original episodes airing and TOC, she did something very nice.
05:56My roommate collected a lot of TOC data and she built an entire website around it called
06:01the Triviary, where the premise is that a lot of pigeons have flown out to collect like
06:05a little chunk of TOC data and that by completing a quiz, you can bring them back.
06:11So every time I do one, I get a little note from like Dale Carnegiell or Beak Yonsee.
06:15Wow!
06:15It's very sweet.
06:16This makes studying fun for you that it's about, it's pigeon themed.
06:20Yeah, I'll do anything if a little cartoon bird tells me to.
06:22Who among us would not?
06:24Scott Riccardi is an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey.
06:27You were also seeded into the semifinals because you had the longest Jeopardy streak of anyone
06:31in this tournament.
06:32What was that like for you at home as people gradually realized, oh, Scott's just going
06:37to keep winning and winning?
06:38It was a very interesting slow burn where originally I did have eight wonderful guests
06:42with me in the audience, but then after the second game, only one remained.
06:46Oh.
06:46My best friend Jason, who's in the audience today.
06:48So nobody else got the scoop on how you were doing.
06:50Right.
06:50So then it turned into this thing where like, they thought probably a bunch of times like,
06:53okay, it's probably going to be over soon.
06:55He just missed all three of those daily doubles.
06:57It's like we just watched him fall down a flight of stairs three times.
07:00And then it kind of inverted later on where I had to keep it secret that like, you know,
07:05my loss was getting closer and closer.
07:07Yeah.
07:07And I actually had a work barbecue where people were like, so like, when are you going back?
07:10And I couldn't really say anything.
07:12I had to just be like, yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence.
07:14I like that you kept the secret.
07:16It's so much more fun for everybody if you keep the secret.
07:19It's no secret that you have control of the board right now.
07:21Scott, make a selection.
07:23Uh, short and sweet for 1,000.
07:25Santa Cruz is Pepperidge Farm's name for these, O-R-C's.
07:30Paolo.
07:30What are oatmeal raisin cookies?
07:32They are.
07:33Short and sweet for eight.
07:34Maybe not as delightful sounding to talk about P-U-D cake.
07:38This retro dessert that employs canned fruit and a post-bake flip.
07:42TJ?
07:42What is pineapple upside down cake?
07:44Yes.
07:45Biography for four.
07:47Steven Greenblatt's Will in the World takes the title character from this small provincial town to success in London.
07:56The will is Will Shakespeare.
07:58What is Stratford?
07:59TJ?
08:00Fielder for 1,000.
08:02Born in Marseille, this midfielder head-butted Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup Final.
08:08TJ?
08:08Who is Zidane?
08:09Yes.
08:10Fielder for two.
08:12Nicknamed Junior, he played center field for the Seattle Mariners from 1989 to 1999.
08:18Scott?
08:19Who is Ken Griffey, Jr.?
08:20Right.
08:21Rugs for 1,000.
08:22Skip caffeine and stay awake by making a rug.
08:25Try this type, made using a certain tool to pull yarn or cloth through coarse material.
08:33That's a hooked or latch hooked rug.
08:36Scott?
08:36Fielder method for 800.
08:38Arshad Nadeem won Pakistan's first-ever individual Olympic gold after throwing this 8.5 to 9-foot item in a
08:45field event in 2024.
08:47Scott?
08:48What is a javelin?
08:49Correct.
08:50Fielder for 400.
08:51Canadians invented the box type of this Native American-derived sport that replaced an outdoor field with an indoor floor.
08:58Paolo?
08:59What is lacrosse?
09:00You got it.
09:01Apt anagrams for?
09:02A type of exchange.
09:04Voices rant on.
09:05TJ?
09:06What is conversation?
09:07That's the word.
09:08Rugs for two?
09:09Opiates derived from these flowers can be harmful, but as a motif on 17th-century carpets from the Mughal Empire,
09:15they're just lovely.
09:17Scott?
09:17What are poppies?
09:18Yes.
09:19On the border for 400.
09:21The 67-foot-high Peace Arch on the border of Canada and the U.S. overlooks Blaine, Washington, and Surrey
09:27in this province.
09:28PJ?
09:29What is British Columbia?
09:30Right.
09:31Biography for two?
09:33Juliet Barker wrote the 1,200-page The Brontes, wild genius on these areas.
09:38Oft mentioned in Wuthering Heights.
09:41Paolo?
09:42What are the moors?
09:43Wild genius on the moors, yes.
09:45On the border too?
09:46Below sea level and with high salinity, it's found between Jordan and Israel.
09:51Scott?
09:51What is the Dead Sea?
09:52Yes.
09:53Short and sweet 200.
09:54AFC is this heavenly dessert that's no yolk, just stiffly beaten egg whites baked in a pan.
10:00Paolo?
10:01What is angel food cake?
10:02It is.
10:02We have one more apt anagram.
10:04A dad joke for those with college-age kids.
10:07Dirty Room.
10:09Scott?
10:09What is dormitory?
10:10It is dormitory.
10:11You have a narrow lead over Paolo and TJ.
10:13Look at this as we come to the end of the Jeopardy! round.
10:16Double Jeopardy! is up next.
10:17Stay tuned.
10:19As we expected with three great players, it's anybody's game as we move into Double Jeopardy!
10:23The categories in this round will be, first, The 17th Century, then we have Character Creators,
10:31followed by Religion, Schooling You in Massachusetts, then Best Supporting Actor Oscar winners, and
10:38finally, What a Word. TJ?
10:41Supporting Actor for 12, please.
10:43It was an actor winning for playing an actor when Martin Landau portrayed him in Ed Wood.
10:49Paolo?
10:50Who is Lugosi?
10:51Yes.
10:51Character Creators for 12?
10:53This king of the comics created Captain America with Joe Simon and the Fantastic Four with Stan Lee.
10:59Paolo?
11:00Who is Kirby?
11:00Jack Kirby, yes.
11:02Creator 16?
11:02She said she stopped recognizing herself in Carrie Bradshaw in Season 3 of Sex and the City.
11:11The real Carrie, Candace Bushnell.
11:14Back to you, Paolo.
11:14What a word for 16.
11:16Answer.
11:17The Daily Double.
11:21You've taken the lead, Paolo, and you can increase that if you're correct here.
11:25How much do you want to wager?
11:28True Daily Double.
11:29Okay.
11:33You'll have 14,400 if you're right.
11:35What a word.
11:36Here's the clue.
11:38Plausible but misleading argument is called this, from thinkers whom Plato depicted as devious word jugglers.
11:50What is sophistry?
11:51That is correct.
11:53For the sophists.
11:55You have a $9,000 lead at the moment.
11:58Select.
11:59Religion for 12.
12:01Jews who descend from those expelled from Spain and Portugal are called this, from the Hebrew word for Spain.
12:07TJ.
12:08What are Sephardi?
12:09Yes, or Sephardic.
12:12Thank goodness.
12:1417th century for 12.
12:15After a mid-century struggle, the Dutch gained control of Ternate Island and its trees of this preserving and breath
12:22-sweetening spice.
12:26Those are clothes.
12:28TJ.
12:28Character creators for 2,000.
12:31Phillip Roth's creations include Portnoy, who has a complaint, and this aging puppeteer in the novel, His Theatre.
12:41Sabbath's Theatre.
12:42Who is Mickey Sabbath?
12:43TJ.
12:44Supporting actors for 16.
12:4620 on the big night, Timothy Hutton is the youngest winner of the award for his work as troubled son
12:51Conrad Jarrett in this film.
12:53Paolo.
12:54What is Ordinary People?
12:55That's the film.
12:56Religion for 16.
12:57In the Steps to Sainthood, before beatification, a person is declared this, meaning they lived a heroically virtuous life.
13:07They're declared venerable.
13:09Paolo.
13:10Religion for 2,000.
13:12It's the five-letter word for the ritual prayer said five times daily as one of the five pillars of
13:17Islam.
13:18Scott.
13:19What is Salah?
13:19Yes, Salah or Salat.
13:21Best Supporting Actor for 2,000.
13:22For putting a scare into moviegoers as this hitman in No Country for Old Men, Javier Bardem took home the
13:28trophy in 2008.
13:30Paolo.
13:31Who is Anton Chigurh?
13:32You got it, friendo.
13:3317th century for 16.
13:35Answer.
13:35The other Daily Double.
13:39You found them both in this round, Paolo. What do you want to wager this time?
13:444,000.
13:45All right, going for 22,000.
13:47Here's your clue in the 17th century.
13:49In this revolt of 1680, the village-dwelling Native Americans of the same name drove the Spanish out of New
13:56Mexico.
13:57What is the Pueblo Revolt?
13:59That is correct.
14:00Taking you to 22,000.
14:05What a word for 12.
14:07Meaning to predict, this verb is from Latin, and we prophesy you'll know the word is five letters longer than
14:13prophesy.
14:18What is prognosticate?
14:20Paolo.
14:21Schooling in Massachusetts for 12.
14:23Though its name screams the law, this university in Waltham has no law school.
14:28To get a JD with this name on it, go to Louisville.
14:34Brandeis is in Waltham. Back to you, Paolo.
14:37Schooling you 16.
14:38We'll give you directions to this university in Boston.
14:41It's at 360 Huntington Avenue, but also has campuses in Nahant and Burlington.
14:46Scott.
14:46What is Northeastern?
14:47Yes.
14:48Schooling you for 2,000.
14:49South Hadley is home to this college, the oldest of the Seven Sisters.
14:54Paolo.
14:55What's Mount Holyoke?
14:55It is Mount Holyoke for $2,000.
14:57What a word for two.
14:59Northerners supporting and profiting from Reconstruction were carpetbaggers.
15:03Pro-Reconstruction Southerners, these.
15:08They were scalawags.
15:10Paolo.
15:1117th century for two.
15:13In his 60s, this French explorer made his last voyage to Quebec in 1633 and died there on Christmas Day
15:19in 1635.
15:21Scott.
15:21Who is Cartier?
15:22No.
15:23Paolo or TJ?
15:26Who is Champlain?
15:27Back to Paolo.
15:2917th century for eight.
15:30France's great century began under this king, known as the Just, who reigned from 1610 to 1643 and had a
15:37more famous successor.
15:38Scott.
15:39Who is Louis XIII?
15:40Yes.
15:42Character creators 800?
15:43George Grossmith was the first to play Gilbert and Sullivan roles like Coco, this Lord High personage in the Mikado.
15:50Scott.
15:50What is the Grand Poobah?
15:51No.
15:53Paolo or TJ?
15:55He's Lord High Executioner.
15:57Scott.
15:57Religion 800.
15:59In 2025, Japan ordered the disbandment of this controversial church founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
16:06TJ.
16:08What is the Unification Church?
16:10Yes.
16:11Religion for four.
16:12Marcus Garvey is considered a prophet of this religion that began in Jamaica.
16:16Paolo.
16:17What is Rastafarianism?
16:18Yes.
16:19Best Supporting Actor for eight.
16:21As Waymond Wong in this film, Ki Hui Kwan became the first Vietnamese-born recipient of an acting Oscar.
16:27TJ.
16:28What is everything, everywhere, all at once?
16:30That's right.
16:31Actors for four.
16:32Marlon Brando won Best Actor for this role.
16:35Two years later, Robert De Niro won a supporting Oscar for playing the same character.
16:39TJ.
16:40Who is Corleone?
16:42Can you be more specific?
16:43Michael?
16:43No.
16:44Scott.
16:45Who's Veto Corleone?
16:45It's Veto, yes.
16:46What a word for 800.
16:48Etiolated means pale and stunted, and refers botanically to a plant that develops in low light and makes less of
16:54this compound.
16:55TJ.
16:56What is chlorophyll?
16:58Right.
16:59Massachusetts for eight.
17:01Original poems and manuscripts are part of the Emily Dickinson Collection at the Jones Library of this liberal arts college.
17:07Paolo.
17:08What is Amherst?
17:10Right.
17:10Schooling you for.
17:11This women's college may have a common name, but it boasts some very uncommon alums.
17:16Gloria Steinem, Julia Child, and Betty Friedan.
17:19Scott.
17:20What is Smith?
17:20That's right.
17:21What a word for 400.
17:22Tet Besh, a term for a pair of items identical but with one upside down, is most commonly used of
17:28these collectibles.
17:32Used for stamps.
17:33Scott, two clues left.
17:34Character creators 400.
17:36Composer Sergei Prokofiev created this character and represented him with French horns.
17:41Oh no, he ate the oboe slash duck.
17:44Paolo.
17:44Who is the wolf.
17:45Of Peter and the wolf fame.
17:47Yes.
17:47One more time.
17:48Back to the 17th century.
17:50Robert Boyle moved toward a theory of these basic units of matter, but called them corpuscles, whereof each element consists.
17:57Scott.
17:57What are Adams?
17:59Adams is correct, moving you into second place.
18:01But Paolo has the lead as we head into Final Jeopardy.
18:03The category for you three will be composers today.
18:07And the clue is coming up right after this break.
18:10The Final Jeopardy category is composers.
18:13Here's the clue.
18:15This composer, whose most famous work shows a Spanish influence, said,
18:19My parents met in Madrid.
18:2130 seconds.
18:22Good luck.
18:52Let's begin with T.J. Fisher and his $7,800.
18:55His response?
18:57He crossed out Ravel and put Bizet, thinking of Carmen.
19:00I'm afraid it is not Bizet.
19:02T.J., you wagered $777, leaving you with $7,023.
19:07Scott Riccardi in second place with $8,200, wrote down Ravel and did not cross it out.
19:13Yes.
19:13Ravel for his bolero.
19:14What did you wager?
19:16No wager at all.
19:17So you still have $8,200.
19:19But Paolo Pasco, after those daily doubles, could not be caught.
19:22$25,600.
19:23His response?
19:25Oh, a good thing he could not be caught.
19:26He put Rossini.
19:27What did you wager?
19:29He loses just $121, leaving him with $25,479.
19:33Paolo Pasco takes the first game in this Tournament of Champions Finals.
19:40But remember, this is a post-to-free wins format.
19:43And the finals will continue tomorrow.
19:45We'll be back here on the Alex Trebek stage.
19:47See you then.
19:58And the scheduler.
19:59If you wanna make this copy ofурge.
19:59That's where Sony makes the worst hat.
19:59Happy now...
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