Did Scott Riccardi Gallop His Way to Another Win?

[The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for the Tuesday, July 22, episode of Jeopardy!]

Scott Riccardi has been the “mane” event of Jeopardy! for most of the month of July. He has secured 13 wins with a total of $362,901, making him the 13th highest-winning contestant of all time, just above Adriana Harmeyer. So, did Riccardi gallop his way to another win? Read on to find out.

The engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, played against Paul Ryan, from Weymouth, Massachusetts, and Adriene Holland, from Powder Springs, Georgia, on Tuesday, July 22.

Riccardi found the Daily Double early on in the game. He had the lead with $2,000 and made it a true Daily Double. In “Exodusters,” the clue read, “Mass Black migration out of the South ramped up after Rutherford B. Hayes effectively ended this era in 1877.” “What is Reconstruction?” he answered correctly, giving him $4,000.

The reigning champion continued to dominate the round by correctly answering clues, maintaining the lead by the first commercial break. By the end of the round, he cantered his way to another runaway victory with $11,400. Holland, a risk control manager, had $3,800. Ryan, a print and print marketing general manager, was in third with $3,000. Could Riccardi keep up the momentum in Double Jeopardy?

Holland found the first Daily Double in that round. Currently in third place, she had $5,800. She wagered $3,000 in “Millennials.” The clue read, “Turning 41 in 2025, he’s the highest ranking millennial on the list of the world’s richest people.” Holland answered right away with, “Who is Mark Zuckerberg?” She was correct and moved to second place with $8,800.

All three game show contestants put up a fair fight for the rest of the round, but it was Riccardi who found the last DD. He had a huge lead with $23,200, nearly twice as much as Holland in second place. Riccardi made a more logical wager of $4,000 this time. He would still maintain the lead if he got it wrong. In “To Put It In Anthropological Terms,” the clue was ” A grouping of only parents & their kids, this term was used in a book title about ‘Coming of Age in Oppenheimer’s Secret City.’” Riccardi hesitated, and then “nuclear family” occurred to him. He moved up to $27,200.

Riccardi answered the last few clues of the round correctly, giving him a total of $30,000. Holland was in second with $12,400. Ryan had $9,800 before Final Jeopardy. The champion might have sprinted to a win, but he got into some horse trouble on the last clue.

In “Languages in History,” the clue was “Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is said to have quipped, ‘to God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French, & to my horse’ this.” Only contestant correctly answered, “German.”

Ryan was the one who got it right and wagered $3,200, giving him a final total of $13,000. Both Holland and Riccardi guessed English. Holland wagered $7,800, dropping down to $4,600. Riccardi wagered $1,999, giving him a total of $28,001. That was his 14th win, with a total of $390,902. That moves him into 12th place overall, above Ray Lalonde, according to The Jeopardy! Fan.

Now he has just three more hurdles to end the season as an undefeated champion, as the season ends on Friday, July 25.

“I loved the little moment of realization in the second daily double in Double Jeopardy! I feel like we see so many people get stuck on a relatively easy DD in a clutch situation, and never have that moment where it clicks. I was worried for Scott for a moment,  but you could see the excitement when he figured it out! So charming,” a Reddit user said.

“It’s been a long time since we had a 14-game winner. Good work, Scott!” wrote another.