Aaron Himmel — a stay-at-home dad originally from Long Island, New York
Joseph Evans — a middle school history teacher from Beltsville, Maryland
Joyelle McSweeney — a poet and English professor from South Bend, Indiana (whose 1-day cash winnings total $17,700)
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joyelle | $400 | $800 | $3,600 |
$7,200
3rd place: $2,000 |
$5,600
13 R, 7 W (including 1 DD) |
| Joe | $2,800 | $5,400 | $9,000 |
$15,529
New champion: $15,529 |
$8,800
15 R (including 1 DD), 2 W |
| Aaron | $2,400 | $5,600 | $15,000 |
$11,999
2nd place: $3,000 |
$18,000
23 R, 3 W (including 1 DD) |
| PUT IT ON | ANCIENT NAMES | THAT'S CRICKETS | 8-LETTER WORDS | IN THE BOOK | AARON SORKIN |
|
$200
[23]
Why not wear this Mexican hat with a name from Spanish?
a sombrero
Joe
|
$200
[1]
Before serving as court physician to the Roman emperor, Galen was chief physician to a group of these trained fighters
gladiators
Joe
|
$200
[29]
In the movies he sings, "Always let your conscience be your guide"
Jiminy Cricket
Aaron
|
$200
[18]
It can mean a left-handed boxer, like Marvin Hagler
southpaw
Aaron
|
$200
[24]
"You should be ashamed of yourself, comparing a fine man like Ashley Wilkes to a scoundrel like Captain Butler!"
Gone with the Wind
Joe
|
$200
[20]
Thisbaseball picture garnered Oscar nominations for stars Brad Pitt & Jonah Hill, as well as co-writer Sorkin
Moneyball
Aaron
|
|
$400
[22]
The cap named for Davy Crockett featured the fur & tail of this type of animal
a raccoon
Joe
|
$400
[10]
Plutarch wrote that this queen's beauty was "not altogether incomparable", but to converse "with her had an irresistible charm"
Cleopatra
Joe
Aaron
|
$400
[28]
Fried crickets are a delicacy in this country but I'll just stick with pad see ew
Thailand
Aaron
|
$400
[19]
Common in newborn babies, it causes yellowing of the skin & in the whites of the eyes
jaundice
Joe
|
$400
[25]
The first in a series: journalist Mikael Blomkvist solves a mystery with the aid of a female computer hacker
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Joe
|
$400
[21]
A 2023 revival of this beloved Broadway musical featured a rewritten book by Aaron Sorkin & starred Phillipa Soo as Guenevere
Camelot
Joyelle
|
|
$600
[6]
Put on the short-sleeved shirt named for this sport; Ralph Lauren is famous for them, but they date to the 1920s
a polo
Joe
|
$600
[7]
Considered China's greatest sage, he's gotten new endorsement from Xi Jinping, who spoke on his 2,565th birthday in 2014
Confucius
Joe
|
$600
[27]
Heled the band called The Crickets until his untimely death in 1959
Buddy Holly
Aaron
|
$600
[2]
This word for someone who's on the lam was in a TV & movie title
fugitive
Aaron
|
$600
[15]
A girl absconds with a copy of "The Grave Digger's Handbook", marking "the beginning of an illustrious career"
The Book Thief
|
$600
[26]
(Aaron Sorkin presents the clue.) I'm not a journalist, so I take dramatic license to capture the sentiment of a scene, like having this character say, "You can't write code, you're not an engineer, so how come ten times a day I read Steve Jobs is a genius--what do you do?"
Steve Wozniak
Aaron
|
|
$800
[4]
A girl in the Buster Brown comic strip gave her name to this style of shoe
Mary Jane
Aaron
|
$800
[8]
After this Roman emperor's death in 117, it's said his ashes were placed in his column
Trajan
Joyelle
Joe
|
$800
[13]
The sport of cricket gave us this 2-word phrase for a difficult or awkward situation
sticky wicket
Aaron
|
$800
[3]
A popular meme shows Jean-Luc Picard doing this gesture of exasperation
facepalm
Joyelle
|
DD
$1,000
[17]
Boys in Afghanistan battle to see who can cut the strings of their opponents' toys
The Kite Runner
Joe
|
$800
[11]
(Aaron Sorkin presents the clue.) I was working as a bartender in New York City in the 1980s while I was writing this play & even wrote some of it on cocktail napkins during my shift; I was 28 when it came out on Broadway, & I got to write the screenplay for thefilmtoo
A Few Good Men
Aaron
|
|
$1,000
[5]
The Spanish word for guava may be the origin of the name of this Cuban shirt with 4 pockets
the guayabera
Joyelle
|
$1,000
[9]
Fearing its rise again after the Second Punic war, Cato the Elder ended speeches with this city "must be destroyed"
Carthage
Joyelle
|
$1,000
[14]
Mormon crickets, which are actually katydids, threatened crops in Utah in 1848 until a flock of these birds saved the day & ate them
(sea)gulls
Joe
Aaron
|
$1,000
[16]
It's a small pepper from a variety of Capsicum chinense that's named for a place in the Caribbean
habanero
|
$1,000
[30]
Dally Winston, leader of the Greasers, & Cherry Valance, a Soc cheerleader
The Outsiders
Aaron
|
$1,000
[12]
(Aaron Sorkin presents the clue.) I wrote "Charlie Wilson's War", which was the last film directed by this Hollywood legend, the most talented man I've ever met; he made directing look simple--it's not
Mike Nichols
|
| PUT IT OFF | A WATERY BORDER | OLD TV SHOW, NEW AUDIENCE | THEY GOT MARRIED | ADULT BEVERAGES | NOT THEIR MAIN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT |
|
$400
[27]
Kate Bosworth was accepted to Princeton but did this to act instead, until Princeton said forget it
deferred
Aaron
|
$400
[21]
One of the world's most heavily used shipping lanes, this man-made waterway marks a border between Africa & Asia
the Suez Canal
Joe
|
$400
[25]
Are you a Blanche or a Dorothy? Like its characters, this Miami-set sitcom has shown impressive longevity in the streaming era
The Golden Girls
Joyelle
|
$400
[16]
Moving between art science, Picasso's ex, Françoise Gilot, married this polio conqueror
Salk
Joyelle
|
$400
[9]
After a dinner of "rock lobster", serve this layered shooter of Kahlúa, Baileys & Grand Marnier
a B-52
Aaron
|
$400
[30]
Though he played clarinet first, Sidney Bechet is in jazz history as the first master of the soprano one of these
saxophone (sax)
Joyelle
|
|
$800
[26]
In the NFL it's the infraction of not snapping the ball within the 40 seconds allotted
delay of game
Aaron
|
$800
[19]
The Niagara River forms a border between this U.S. state & this Canadian province
New York & Ontario
Joyelle
Joe
Aaron
|
$800
[24]
Pluto TV has a channel devoted to the '80s sitcom "Family Ties", with this actor as a Reagan-obsessed young capitalist
Michael J. Fox
Joyelle
|
$800
[29]
Architects Denise Scott Brown & Robert Venturiwrote the book on Postmodernism with learning from this city of weddings, but not theirs
Las Vegas
Joyelle
|
$800
[8]
The Reposado type of this liquor is aged from 2 months to one year, while the Añejo type is one to 3 years
tequila
Aaron
|
$800
[28]
Keyboard whiz Stevie Wonder showed his virtuosity on this instrument with solos on "Isn't She Lovely" & "For Once In My Life"
the harmonica
Joyelle
Joe
|
|
$1,200
[20]
This court order can put off the sale of a property as well as someone being put to death
a stay
Joyelle
Aaron
|
$1,200
[18]
Occupying an old glacier basin, Lake Constance sits between Germany, Austria & this nation
Switzerland
Aaron
|
$1,200
[22]
Color-coded teen superheroes! A giant Megazord! Thanks to streaming, new fans are keeping this '90s kids show alive & (karate) kicking
the ( Mighty Morphin ) Power Rangers
Joyelle
|
$1,200
[23]
While on crusade in 1191, this English king married Berengaria; some say Beardengaria would be more fitting, but that's not certain
Richard the Lionheart
Joe
|
$1,200
[7]
In 2021 The New York Times wrote about the resurgence of this caffeinated coffee cocktail, a favorite on "Below Deck"
an espresso martini
Aaron
|
$1,600
[10]
In 2023 piano virtuoso Sir Andras Schiff made his first record on this period instrument, from Latin for "key" & "string"
a clavichord
Joyelle
|
|
$1,600
[14]
At university it can be a "cooperative" service helping farmers or a desired putting-off of turning in an assignment
an extension
Joyelle
|
$2,000
[6]
Mainland Australia is separated from Papua New Guinea by this strait named for a Spanish sailor who passed through it in 1606
the Torres Strait
Joyelle
|
$1,600
[12]
15 years after Christian explained, "Everything that's ever happened to you is real" in the finale, this drama has new fans
Lost
|
$1,600
[17]
In 2025, this former news anchor went to space on a Blue Origin flight, then became Mrs. Jeff Bezos
(Lauren) Sánchez
Aaron
|
$1,600
[3]
It was a this type of night, so I made myself the same-named cocktail of rum, ginger beer & fresh lime juice
a dark & stormy
Aaron
|
DD
$2,000
[1]
Pepe Romero plays a mean classical guitar but is also good on this type, lighter & often with a golpeador or tap plate
flamenco guitar
Joyelle
|
|
$2,000
[13]
The third word in the inscriptionheremeans "tomorrow" & gave us this word for "to put off until tomorrow""hodie mihi cras tibi"
procrastinate
Joyelle
|
DD
$3,000
[5]
For 1,250 & 24 miles, these 2 rivers form parts of the border between the U.S. & Mexico
the Rio Grande & the Colorado
Aaron
|
$2,000
[11]
Thissitcom set at fictional Hillman College hooked new fans in 2024 when itscastreunited for a tour in support of HBCUs
A Different World
Joyelle
|
$2,000
[15]
In Harlem Renaissance social notes, poet Countee Cullen wed Yolande, daughter of this sociologist/ author/activist
Du Bois
Joe
|
$2,000
[4]
A department in France's Normandy region gives its name to this apple brandy that's sometimes made from pears as well
Calvados
Aaron
|
$2,000
[2]
Nat Adderley played trumpet before gaining fame on this smaller horn with a warmer sound
a cornet
Aaron
|
"'Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!"', says this man
Ebenezer Scrooge