JEOPARDY!’S latest champion, Scott Riccardi, has scored the highest two-game winnings in over two years after his risky final wager resulted in a big payoff.
As fans complain that the latter half of season 41 has been a massive letdown with “boring” games and few multi-day winners, today’s 4th of July episode ended with fireworks in a shocking Final Jeopardy!
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Scott returned to Friday’s game in hopes of continuing his one-day winning streak and extending his earnings of $17,600.
The engineer from Somerville, New Jersey went up against Andi Levenson, a senior paralegal from Narberth, Pennsylvania, and Ricky Chandak, a financial assurance senior from Boston, Massachusetts.
Scott was quick to find the first Daily Double under the World Capitals category, boosting him $1,000 right off the bat.
By the time the trio of contestants entered the Double Jeopardy! round, Scott was already off to a big lead with $7,600.
Ricky was in a distant second with $3,600 while Andi remained in third with $1,800.
The returning champ continued to use his quick buzzer work and strategic gameplay to increase his impressive lead.
He found the second Daily Double under the TV Makes History category, improving his score by another $4,000.
By this point in the game, Scott already banked $22,400 – much higher than many contestants at this stage in the game and far more than second place Ricky’s $10,800.
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Just when it seemed like Scott had locked in another runaway win, Ricky went all-in when he found the third Daily Double under You’re All Getting Medals.
He wagered his entire $12,000 earnings – doubling his score to $24,000 and surpassing Scott for the lead.
Despite Ricky trailing him by more than $10,000, Scott now had $1,600 less than his competitor.
Feeling the pressure, Scott was able to clock into some difficult clues, which he all got right to boost his score.
Going into Final Jeopardy!, Scott took back the lead with $26,400 while Ricky was in a close second place with $24,400.
Andi remained in a much-distant third in the nail-biting game with $7,400.
Host Ken Jennings, 51, then introduced the final category, Geography, as the players placed their wagers.
Due to the results dramatically changing just before the last round, the results of the game would come down to how Scott and Ricky strategized their bets.
Ken then read the final clue: “In 2023, these 2 nations agreed to redraw part of their border near the Matterhorn due to melting glaciers.”
Jeopardy! Contestant Rules
Passing Jeopardy!’s online Anytime Test is hard enough, but there are also many rules players must follow once they make it to the stage:
- The returning champion is always at the leftmost podium and keeps playing until they lose.
- Contestants don’t have to say “who is” or “what is” in the first round but must do so in Double Jeopardy! and Final Jeopardy.
- Contestants can change their responses as long as Ken Jennings or the judges haven’t made a ruling.
- The minimum wager for a Daily Double is $5. The minimum wager for Final Jeopardy! is $0.
- Written responses in Final Jeopardy! do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct (the judges decide this).
- If there’s a tie after Final Jeopardy, the tied players enter a bonus clue shootout, and whoever buzzes in first correctly wins.
- If all three contestants wager everything in Final Jeopardy! and are incorrect, leaving them with $0, there will be no returning champion (it’s happened before—six times).
Both Scott and Ricky were correct in writing down “What is Switzerland and Italy?”
Ricky only bet $2,600, giving him the end result of $27,000 – which is more than the winnings of most Jeopardy! games.
However, Scott went for a massive swing and shocked fans by betting it all on Final Jeopardy! – wagering $24,000.
When his wager was revealed, host Ken was stunned – exclaiming “Holy cow!” as the audience loudly gasped.
Scott won Friday’s game with $50,400 while he took home a two-day total of $68,000.
That high of winnings is so rare, no one has topped that amount in over two years.
Back in May 2023, former nine-game winner Ben Chan took home $60,000 in a single game.
No player since then has gotten anywhere close to that amount, or even gotten near $50,000 in a single game.
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