{"id":848643,"date":"2026-09-15T13:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/848643\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:32:17","slug":"jeopardy-season-43-premiere-decided-by-risky-final-wager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/848643\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jeopardy!\u2019: Season 43 Premiere Decided by Risky Final Wager"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeopardy!<\/a> is back. Season 43<\/a> kicked off with returning champion Matthew Riggle trying to win his third game against two new opponents. The game ended with a risky final wager and a shocking result.<\/p>\n

Riggle, from Madison, Alabama, entered the September 14 game with a two-day total of $64,400<\/a>. On the premiere, the community college math instructor played against Emily Mayo, from Brooklyn, New York, and Bryan Lee, from Falls Church, Virginia. WARNING: This post contains spoilers about the Monday, September 14 episode of Jeopardy!.<\/p>\n

Both Riggle and Lee, a climate financial strategist, were tied with $1,000 when Lee found the Daily Double on clue three. He wagered all of his money in “Opera.”<\/p>\n

The clue read, “This Ethiopian princess sings a duet with Radames at an Opera’s end, ‘The fatal stone now closes over me.'” He answered correctly with “Who is Aida?” This gave him the lead with $2,000.<\/p>\n

However, Lee didn’t keep the lead for long, as Riggle answered the next $1,000 clue correctly, tying them up. By the first 15 clues, Lee retook the lead with $7,000.<\/p>\n

Riggle had $3,200. Mayo, a Broadway ads project manager, got on the board og clue 25 with a Brooklyn-related clue with $400.<\/p>\n

By the end of the round, Lee had $8,000. Riggle was in second place with $6,800. Mayo had $1,600.<\/p>\n

\"Jeopardy!<\/p>\n

Jeopardy! – Season 43 – Show #9616 – Airdate 091426<\/p>\n

Sony Pictures<\/p>\n

In Double Jeopardy, Lee found the first DD on clue seven. He had $12,000 and wagered $4,000. The clue in “Historic Days of the Week” was “Recently, it opened on Wednesday, but the famous ‘Long’ one opened on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1640.”<\/p>\n

“What is\u2026 long\u2026?” he answered before time ran out. The correct answer was Long Parliament. Lee dropped to $8,000, making it a tighter game. Riggle had $5,600.<\/p>\n

Riggle had $6,800 when he found the last DD on clue 10. He wagered all of his money in “Colleges You Could Apply to in 1895.”<\/p>\n

\"'Jeopardy!'<\/a><\/p>\n

‘Jeopardy!’ Boss Teases Bringing Back 3 Forgotten Tournaments<\/p>\n

\u00a0Related\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Jeopardy!’ Boss Teases Bringing Back 3 Forgotten Tournaments<\/a><\/p>\n

The clue was “Chartered in 1800, this Vermont school is in a town named for its location between 2 others.” “What is Middleborough?” he answered. The correct response was Middlebury, so Riggled dropped to $0.<\/p>\n

By the end of the round, Riggle made his way back to second place with $12,000. Lee had $15,600. Mayo was in third place with $4,000.<\/p>\n

“Transportation” was the Final Jeopardy category. The clue read, “Bearing the name of an arthropod genus, this iconic vehicle first sold after WWII was designed by Italian engineer Corradino D’Ascanio.”<\/p>\n

Mayo responded with “What is a beetle?” She was incorrect and wagered all of her money, leaving her with $0.<\/p>\n

Riggle’s response of “What is spider?” was not correct either. He wagered $3,999, giving him $8,001.<\/p>\n

“What is a VW bug?” Lee answered incorrectly. The correct response was the Vespa, Italian for wasp. Lee wagered $8,401, giving him s final total of $7,199.<\/p>\n

By a miracle, Riggle won his third game. The game show<\/a> contestant had a three-day total of $72,401 and will return on Tuesday for game four.<\/p>\n

Jeopardy!, weekdays, check local listings, stream next day on Hulu and Peacock<\/p>\n

Read the latest entertainment news on TV Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeopardy! is back. Season 43 kicked off with returning champion Matthew Riggle trying to win his third game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[301518,345082,358861,88,358860,92],"class_list":["post-848643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bryan-lee","tag-double-jeopardy","tag-emily-mayo","tag-entertainment","tag-matthew-riggle","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}