Who won Jeopardy! tonight? January 31, 2023, Tuesday

A brand new episode of Jeopardy! Season 39, featuring two-day champion Jake DeArruda, aired on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

As per the show’s format, each episode welcomes one returning champion and two new participants. The winner of each game advances to the next episode. If a player wins over four games, they earn a spot in the Tournament of Champions (ToC).

In the January 31 episode, Jake, a delivery dispatcher originally from Ludlow, Vermont, was the returning champion. He was up against two newcomers — Soren Bliefnick, a business intelligence analyst from Los Angeles, California, and Liz Mendoza, a teacher from Phoenix, Arizona.

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Today's Jeopardy! winner is Jake DeArruda

Jake DeArruda first appeared on the game show in the January 27 episode where he defeated six-day champion, Troy Meyer. Today was his third game and he maintained his winning streak.

In the latest episode, the categories for the first round were “‘In’ The Right Place; Sci-Fi & Fantasy; Ad Verbs & Taglines; Get Stuffed!; The Silent & Not-Silent Letter; Jason Concepcion.”

All three players had a good start in round 1. Jake DeArruda had the best time playing in the category of Jason Concepcion before winning the first Daily Double. He took the lead in the first round with ten correct answers. The new players were also not far behind. Soren Bliefnick gave nine correct answers, while Liz Mendoza gave seven correct and two incorrect answers. The first round's total scores were — Jake at $6,000 Soren at $5,200, and Liz at $2,400.

In the second round, the categories included “Historical Fiction, Medical Folks, A Capital Offensive, Head Gear, They Wrote The Movie, 3-Letter Palindromes.”

The Double Jeopardy round always comes with two Daily Doubles. In the January 31 episode, the first Daily Double went to Jake which helped him achieve a big lead in round 2. The second one went to Liz, who wagered almost all her money, and unfortunately lost the chance to double up her score. Soren played decently well and landed in second place on the scoreboard. In the second round, Jake banked $21,000, while Soren and Liz scored $8,800 and $200, respectively.

The Final Jeopardy round was a flop as none of the players were able to give the correct answer to the final clue. None of them wagered huge amounts and thus the ranks were not affected. As Liz only scored $200 in round 2, she wagered all of it and went home with zero dollars. While she landed in third place, Jake was at the top with Soren in second place.

Hence, Jake DeArruda won Jeopardy! today.

Jake DeArruda: Tonight's winner (Image via Jeopardy)

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Final Jeopardy! results today

Hosted by Ken Jennings, the January 31 episode ended with players losing their bet in the final round. Under the category “U.S. State Names,” the clue/question for the Final Jeopardy round read:

“5 U.S. states have 6-letter names; only these 2 west of the Mississippi River border each other.”

The correct answer to the final question was “Oregon and Nevada.”

While Soren gave half the correct answer, Jake and Liz wrote, “Kansas.” Take a look at the final results of the January 31 episode:

Jake DeArruda: $21,000 – $333 = $20,667 (What are Kansas +) (3-day total: $68,661)

Soren Bliefnick: $8,800 – $200 = $8,600 (What are Oregon and ?)

Liz Mendoza: $200 – $200 = $0 (What Kansas +)

Jake won today’s episode and became the three-day champion with a total score of $68,661. He will return to the game show in the next episode to play his fourth game. If he wins his next game, he will qualify for the Tournament of Champions 2023.

The syndicated TV program will air its next episode on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.