Who won Jeopardy! tonight? December 30, 2022, Friday

Jeopardy! Season 39 aired a new episode on Friday, December 30, 2022, featuring 11-day champion Ray Lalonde.

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, the scenic artist returned to the show to play his 12th game against two new players. The players were Kristin Jacobsen, a retired Naval officer from Burke, Virginia, and Isaac Rabbani, a graduate student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The series is the longest-running game show that has won multiple Emmy Awards. Explaining the origin of the program on the show’s site, its description reads:

"Jeopardy! was born March 30, 1964, when the first-ever episode aired at 11:30 am on NBC. The birth parents were Merv and Julann Griffin and attending was Art Fleming. The NBC daytime version of the show (which ran until 1975) paved the way for the current syndicated program that debuted in 1984.”

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Ray Lalonde

Ray Lalonde’s winning streak continued in the December 30 episode as well. He was leading in the game from the start.

In the first round, the categories included: “The Ageless Diana Ross, U.S. Territories, The Friend Zone, Tree Anatomy, Talk Derby To Me, 4-Letter ‘X’ Rated Words.”

All three players had a good time in the first round. Ray gave 15 correct answers and banked $8,000. Since the previous episode, Ray’s luck to find the first Daily Double has not been working in his favor.

This time also, he couldn’t pick a Daily Double, however, it didn’t affect his top position on the scoreboard. The Daily Double went to Kristin Jacobsen, who landed in third place by correctly answering seven questions and scoring $3,800. Isaac Rabbani, on the other hand, banked $3,800 by giving eight correct responses.

The categories for the second round of the Ken Jennings-hosted show were “There’s A Census Excitement In The Air, Alliteration, Shakespeare’s Contemporaries, I Got A ‘B’ In History, The First Feature They Directed, A Memorable New Year’s Eve.”

It was a head-to-head match between Ray and Isaac in the Double Jeopardy round. Both found Daily Doubles and won whopping amounts. In the second round, Isaac took the lead in most of the segments.

However, Ray surpassed Isaac’s score in the end as he banked $22,800. Isaac came second as his total score was $20,100. Kristin, too, played pretty well but couldn’t beat Ray and Isaac as the two found Daily Doubles. Kristin’s score going into the final round was $10, 600.

It was like a New Year's treat in the Final Jeopardy round as all three wagered big amounts and won. Isaac lost first place to Ray by $2,800, which means the latter topped the scoreboard once again. Kristin went all in and wagered everything she earned in today’s episode. Fortunately, she won and was able to double her total amount. She landed in third place.

Hence, Ray Lalonde won Jeopardy! today.

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

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Final Jeopardy! results today

The category for the final round in the December 30 episode was “U.S. Bodies of Water.” The clue/question read:

“Continuing a downward trend, in July 2022 it was at 27% capacity, its lowest level since 1937 when it was first being filled.”

The correct answer to the final question was “Lake Mead.”

All three players gave the correct response to the final clue. Take a look at the final results of the December 30 episode:

Ray Lalonde: $22,800 + $20,000 = $42,800 (What is Lake Mead?) (12-day total: $354,300)

Isaac Rabbani: $20,100 + $19,900 = $40,000 (What is Lake Mead)

Kristin Jacobsen: $10,600 + $10,600 = $21,200 (What is Lake Meade)

Ray won the latest game and became the 12-day champion with a total score of $354,300. He is the second-highest scorer of season 39. Cris Pannullo is in first place.

Ray will return next week to defend his win. The next episode will be the first installment of the new year, airing on Monday, January 2, 2023.