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Here’s the Pop Culture Jeopardy Final Jeopardy (in the category 2009 No. 1 Hits) for Monday, May 11, 2026 (Season 2, Game 1):
The rapper behind this song said he wanted to rap about “regular guidebook stuff” alongside “the city’s gritty side”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Pop Culture Jeopardy! contestants:
One Baddie After Another, Jonathan & McShane
Cheaper By The Cousin, Peggy & Ilanna
Jeopardazed and Confused, Becca & Sam
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
It’s time for a new season of Pop Culture Jeopardy!, once again hosted by Colin Jost.
What’s different this time out? First up, teams of 2 instead of teams of 3. This probably would have been a much better received change amongst everyone had teams not been asked to drop from 3 to 2 after auditioning as groups of 3. That doesn’t seem like particularly pleasant treatment of players to me!
Additionally, the winning team will get to defend their title in the next episode—to a maximum of 5 victories. Once 15 episodes are done, the top 9 teams will return in the final week in a semifinal round, followed by a final, with the winner taking Season 2 and the $300,000 grand prize.
One final change to gameplay: Unlike in Season 1, there is no “Triple Play”; things play identical to the regular game now.
Our first set of contestants are One Baddie After Another (Jonathan & McShane), Cheaper by the Cousin (Peggy & Ilanna), and Jeopardazed & Confused (Becca & Sam).
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is “Empire State of Mind”?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2026 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
“Empire State of Mind” was the 2009 Jay-Z/Alicia Keys collab and megahit that also appeared on Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3; in his 2010 biography Decoded, Jay-Z wrote that he wanted to use the verses “to tell stories of the city’s gritty side, to use stories about hustling and getting hustled to add tension to the soaring beauty of the chorus”.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Here’s the recap for Season 2, Episode 1:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Unconventional Talk Shows; Annual Accolades; The Razzies; She’s With The Brand; Millennial Cartoons; Sounds Like 6-7)
Our baddies had a good start, but fell back to 0 with an incorrect True Daily Double. That said, they rebounded well and had a good-sized lead after 30 clues. On the opening board, One Baddie After Another went 4/5 in The Razzies and 6-7 and 3/5 in talk shows and millennial cartoons.
Today’s interviews:
One Baddie After Another are fans of “One Battle After Another”.
Cheaper By The Cousin are big fans of One Direction and got to meet them when they first came to the U.S.
Jeopardazed and Confused became friends at engineering school, watching “Bachelor in Paradise”.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
One Baddie After Another 17 correct 2 incorrect
Jeopardazed and Confused 5 correct 1 incorrect
Cheaper By The Cousin 3 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
One Baddie After Another 5,000
Jeopardazed and Confused 2,600
Cheaper By The Cousin 200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Movies That Sound Dirty, But Aren’t; Alliteration; Oldies On The Jukebox; Damn, She Vine; Pigs; In Space)
This game had your classic “find one Daily Double immediately and then spend most of the round finding the second one”. The cousins lost 2,000 early, but got themselves out of the hole and around for final. Meanwhile, our baddies bet just enough on DD3 once they found it to ensure they had a runaway entering Final Jeopardy. On that second board, the Baddies went 4/5 in movies that sound dirty but aren’t and 3/5 in alliteration and old Vines, while Jeopardazed went 3/5 in pigs.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
One Baddie After Another 32 correct 2 incorrect
Jeopardazed and Confused 14 correct 1 incorrect
Cheaper By The Cousin 6 correct 3 incorrect
Scores going into Final:
One Baddie After Another 27,200
Jeopardazed and Confused 12,600
Cheaper By The Cousin 2,600
This one went 2/3 in Final (though would have been 3/3 had out players started writing sooner.)
Tonight’s results:
Cheaper By The Cousin 2,600 – 2,600 = 0 (What is empire state or Hi Aud!)
Jeopardazed and Confused 12,600 + 6,700 = 19,300 (What is Empire State of Mind)
One Baddie After Another 27,200 + 0 = 27,200 (What is Empire State of Mind?) (Winner)
Current Overall Standings:
- One Baddie After Another: 1 win, 27,200 points
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) UNCONVENTIONAL TALK SHOWS 800 (clue #8)
One Baddie After Another 4400 -4400 (Jeopardazed and Confused 600 Cheaper By The Cousin 0)
2) OLDIES ON THE JUKEBOX 800 (clue #1)
Cheaper By The Cousin 200 -2000 (Jeopardazed and Confused 2600 One Baddie After Another 5000)
3) PIGS 800 (clue #24, 2800 left on board)
One Baddie After Another 20200 +5000 (Jeopardazed and Confused 12200 Cheaper By The Cousin 2200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -175
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Jeopardazed and Confused 3 5 5
Cheaper By The Cousin
One Baddie After Another 4 5 4 4 4*
DJ! Round:
Jeopardazed and Confused 3 4† 2 3 5 3 3† 2 3
Cheaper By The Cousin 2* 3 2 1
One Baddie After Another 5 4 5† 4 4 5 4 5 4 5 2*
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
One Baddie After Another 4.25
Jeopardazed and Confused 3.42
Cheaper By The Cousin 2.00
Game Stats:
One Baddie After Another 27,400 Coryat, 32 correct, 2 incorrect, 52.63% in first on buzzer (30/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Jeopardazed and Confused 12,600 Coryat, 14 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Cheaper By The Cousin 4,600 Coryat, 6 correct, 3 incorrect, 12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: 44,600
Lach Trash: 5,600 (on 6 Triple Stumpers)
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Jeopardazed and Confused, career statistics:
15 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 12,600
Cheaper By The Cousin, career statistics:
6 correct, 4 incorrect
1/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57)
0/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -2,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 4,600
One Baddie After Another, career statistics:
33 correct, 2 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
52.63% in first on buzzer (30/57)
1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: 600)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: 27,400
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I’ll be honest: it feels particularly disappointing not to see any sort of reference to any prize money won on the episode itself. How much did our players win today? Who knows! This feels like a pretty significant oversight on somebody’s part.
- It just feels different watching the show straight through and not having a break for commercials, although I bet that the show probably took a break at its usual spots.
- I also know it’s immaterial here to the outright result, but maybe players should focus on trying to get their actual response written before trying to get shoutouts on the screen?
- Due to today’s runaway for both first and second place, wagering suggestions will not be posted.
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