Who won Jeopardy! tonight? January 17, 2023, Tuesday

A brand new episode of Jeopardy! season 39 aired on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, featuring three players.

In every episode, the game show welcomes a returning champion and two new contestants to participate in a quiz consisting of three rounds. The player who scores the highest wins the episode and advances to the next episode.

In the January 17 episode, the returning player was Katie Palumbo, a museum interpreter from Amawalk, New York. She defeated three-day winner Yogesh Raut on Monday’s episode and banked $23,100.

In the latest episode, Katie played against two newcomers — Vince Bacani, a risk manager from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Stephanie Pakula, an aerospace engineer from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Vince Bacani

While Katie Palumbo shone in the previous game, she found herself in second place throughout the January 17 episode.

The categories for the first round in the latest episode included “The Real Real Housewives Of…, “I” On Art, All About Hair, Summing Up The Spielberg Movie, Double Vowels Next To Double Consonants, During The Liz Truss Weeks.”

New player Vince Bacani played wonderfully in round 1. He gave the highest number of correct answers and bagged the first position with a score of $7,000. Katie was just behind him as she got a jump in her scores after winning a Daily Double. With 12 correct answers, the returning champion banked $6,200. Stephanie Pakula, on the other hand, could only score $1,400.

In the second round, the categories were “A Little World History, 1980s Bestsellers, 3 Letters, 2 Meanings, International Food & Drink, Emmy Winners, Sciencey Stuff.”

The Daily Double was not a friend to the players in the Double Jeopardy round. Katie and Vince found one each but lost their respective bets. While Vince lost $5,000, Katie lost $6,000 by giving the wrong answer to the Daily Double question. Stephanie was still far behind with a score of $1,000. Vince and Katie’s scores in round 2 were $14,000 and $7,400, respectively.

In the Final Jeopardy round, none of the players were able to correctly answer the final question. Each lost their respective wagering amount. Stephanie’s total score went down to three figures, while Katie wagered a big amount and brought her score below $5,000. Vince didn’t take a big risk in round 3 and wagered only $1,000. Despite losing the round, he still bagged the top position on the scoreboard.

Hence, Vince Bacani won Jeopardy! today.

Vince Bacani: Tonight's winner (Image via @OneEclecticMom/Twitter)

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Final Jeopardy! results today

In the Final Jeopardy round of the January 17 episode, the category was “Geography Mnemonics.” The question under this category read:

“Mimal, sometimes said to be the silhouette of a chef or elf, stands for Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and these 2 states.”

The correct answer to the final clue/question was “Arkansas and Louisiana.”

Although the category has been used for quite some time in the game, the players still couldn’t guess the correct answer. All three lost their wagering money in round 3.

Take a look at the final results and players’ round 3 answers from the January 17 episode:

Vince Bacani: $14,000 – $1,000 = $13,000 (What are Louisiana and Illinois?) (1-day total: $13,000)

Katie Palumbo: $7,400 – $5,000 = $2,400 (What are Alabama + Louisiana?)

Stephanie Pakula: $1,000 – $899 = $101 (What are Alabama + Louisiana?)

All three players correctly answered one part of the solution, but scores were set for a full correct answer. Going by the scoreboard, Vince became the one-day champion with a total score of $13,000.

The Montreal native will return to defend his win in his second game. The game show, hosted by Ken Jennings, will air its next episode on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.

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Jeopardy! airs new episodes from Monday through Friday.