Who won 'Jeopardy!' tonight? Taylor Swift and Drake clue seals the deal in nail-biting episode
'Jeopardy!' has crowned a new winner, and it all came down to a Taylor Swift and Drake clue. The May 5 episode of the game show featured three contestants going head-to-head for the win. Madeline Kaplan from Toledo, Ohio, returned for her second game after winning against Stephanie Perkins. She competed against Jeremy Roberts, from Midhurst, Ontario, Canada, and Shannon Crisenbury, from St. Clair, Michigan. The game kicked off smoothly for Madeline, as she quickly took the lead with $4,000. She then got the opportunity to extend her lead after finding a Daily Double in clue 11. The editor decided to go all in on the category “Quotes About Science.” The clue read, “This astronomer wrote, 'We’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.'”
Madeline answered with “Who is Sagan?” which turned out to be correct. The response increased her winnings to $8,000. After the first round, Madeline was left with $10,200, Jeremy had $3,600 in his kitty, and Shannon was dead last with $3,400. In the 'Double Jeopardy!' round, Shannon staged a big comeback by hitting back-to-back Daily Doubles. The first one came on clue 3, for which she wagered $4,000 out of her $5,000. The clue in the category “School of Lit” read “Sharing the title of a Dostoyevsky novel, this Elif Batuman book is about a smart but also clueless Harvard freshman.” She answered with “What is The Idiot?” which pushed her amount to $9,000.
The next DD came on clue 4 in the category “Women & Photography.” This clue read, “Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark is perhaps best known for images of runaway teens on this city’s Pike St.” She responded with “What is Seattle?” which was correct, and this elevated her winnings to $14,000, after a wager of $5,000. The back-to-back wins put Shannon in first position, with Madeline following closely with $10,200. Madeline did not give up and staged a brief comeback by answering multiple clues correctly. The returning champ took the lead as well, but Shannon regained control by answering the last two clues accurately. Before the Final Jeopardy round, Shannon had a narrow lead of $600 over Madeline with $19,200 in her kitty. Jeremy was in third position with $7,200. This meant that it was anyone's game in the final round.
The category for Final Jeopardy was “The Canadian Album Charts,” and the clue read “In 2025, Taylor Swift tied Drake & this singer for the most no. 1 albums on Billboard’s Canadian Albums chart, with 15.” Jeremy and Shannon answered correctly with “Who is Celine Dion?” Madeline answered incorrectly, and her wager of $3,000 was subtracted from her winnings. Shannon delivered the final blow after going all in and coming out on top with $38,400. It was truly a comeback for the ages. She will return to defend her title on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
