[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Wednesday, December 11 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy!’s restauranteur returning champ Bill McKinney left no crumbs on Wednesday night, pulling off an all-out runaway third victory. He shared on social media how he pulled off what seemingly was the game-clinching clue, and no, it wasn’t what fans dubbed one of the more questionably easy Final Jeopardy clues concocted by the quiz show.
McKinney, a VP of restaurants & bars originally from Boston, Massachusetts, entered with a two-day total of $28,000 after a low-scoring previous episode, largely due to a triple-stumper Final clue that the champ called “brutal” on Reddit. He faced Sam Nguyen, a tax accountant from Hyattsville, Maryland, and Molly LeBlanc, an administrative assistant from New Orleans, Louisiana.
In the Jeopardy! round, McKinney found the first Daily Double almost immediately in the “Rhyming Last Names” category, correctly making what Ken Jennings joked “sounded like a guess” with “Miller and Schiller.” After floating his daughter as Johnny Gilbert’s replacement in the interviews, the dad of two led the way with $5,400, LeBlanc had $3,600, and Nguyen $1,200.
In Double Jeopardy, the game was all McKinney’s as he found both remaining Daily Doubles. He gained $4,000 on the “Old Testament” clue seeking “Esau,” which felt like the night’s conclusive moment. While he dropped $3,000 on the bottom-row “Asian Americans” clue seeking “Pei,” he had the wiggle room to do so and cruised into Final Jeopardy with $14,800, Nguyen with $3,200 and LeBlanc with $2,000.
The “Word of Science” clue was, “nobelprize .org says some papers of this scientist ‘are stored in lead boxes,’ a ‘legacy that is literally untouchable’.” It was a triple-get, as everyone was correct in writing, “Who is: Marie Curie?” The champ added $4,000 to win with $18,800 for a three-day total of $46,800.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, with many sharing that they were astonished by the unchallenging Final question.
“FJ was like a $200 clue…….” one Redditor wrote.
“I could get the FJ! answer right after the word ‘papers’ I think,” wrote another.
“Only way it could have been easier is if they specified that it was a woman who won a Nobel in two different fields,” wrote a third.
“Hey! I appreciate them occasionally throwing a bone to those of us who would never get FJ otherwise,” wrote a fourth. “Also, off-topic, but Ken’s tie today was the most beautiful tie he has ever worn on the stage. SO PRETTY! I think it’s time you lean into the florals, Ken.”
A fifth wrote, “How is that clue worthy of Final Jeopardy?”
And a sixth, “Echoing everyone else’s sentiments: what a strangely simple FJ after two fairly tough boards!”
McKinney buzzed in to the thread to share his mindset during the big second Daily Double, realizing Esau was “The hairy one” in the nick of time.
A fan wrote, “Good job on the Daily Double. I slipped up and said, Jacob, completely forgetting who was born first.”
McKinney wrote back, “That’s why I was grimacing as soon as I read it. But it popped into my head that he was the hairy one. Thank you to the publishers of the kids’ Bible book I bought.”
McKinney didn’t mince words about the previous episode’s “Williams Jennings Bryan” Final Clue, which brought him a $6,000 win. He wrote in the Reddit thread for that episode, “This one was brutal for me.”
Meanwhile, a third win means he cemented his place in the (2026) Tournament of Champions given the 2025 ToC cutoff is up, though his regular play streak may be far from over if he keeps it up.
What did you think of the game? Did you think Final Jeopardy was too easy? How did no one know Moses struck the rock in the bible? Oy vey! Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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