Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Aug. 13 (season finale)

 Here are today's contestants:

- Nicolle, a chartcaller and freelance writer, jumped out of the way of a loose horse;

- Eric, a project manager, taught "Survivor" in college; and

- Matt, a Ph.D. student, wants to be a professor. Matt is a seventeen-day champ with winnings of $547,600.

In a thrilling contest, Matt broke a tie by doubling up on DD2 and ended DJ with exactly double of Nicolle's total. The scores going into FJ were Matt with $27,200, Nicolle at $13,600 and $2,400 for Eric.

DD1 - $800 - IDIOMS - A jug does it; a sieve & an improbable story don't (Nicolle won $2,000 on a true DD.)

DD2  - $1,200 - NOVEL CHARACTERS - This title heroine of a 1913 novel now means someone who's cheerful to the point of being irritating (Matt, in a tie with Nicolle, won $7,800 on a true DD.)

DD3 - $2,000 - LOST - The biblical Asher & Zebulun were 2 of these that, despite the name, reached the promised land (Nicolle lost $5,000 from their score of $15,800 vs. $20,400 for Matt.)

FJ - 19th CENTURY AMERICAN WOMEN - 2 of the 3 women depicted on the first statue of real women in Central Park, unveiled in August 2020

Only Matt was correct on FJ, adding $1 to win with $27,201 for an eighteen-day total of $574,801.

Wagering strategy: Matt chose to bet a non-zero amount on FJ rather than wager $0 and risk a double-up by Nicolle, in which case there would be a tiebreaker clue if Nicolle was correct. This is the right percentage play for the player in the lead unless they really don't like the FJ category.

Triple Stumper of the day: The writers opted for the shorter, three-word version of the "hug" catch phrase from "Entourage", which is "Hug it out".

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is hold water? DD2 - Who is Pollyanna? DD3 - Who are the Lost Tribes of Israel? FJ - Who were (two of) Anthony, Truth and Stanton? (Matt wrote Anthony and Stanton.)

And that wraps it up for a sad, strange season that thankfully ended with the emergence of an all-time great champion. To those of you who will continue watching in September, we know it will never be quite the same. We'll find out together what the show's new normal will look like. Thanks for reading and hope to see you next month!