Did Scott Riccardi's 'Jeopardy' winning streak continue?

Spoiler alert: The following contains details of the July 22, 2025 "Jeopardy!" episode.

The engineer from Somerville, New Jersey, clinched his 14th victory July 22. His total winnings? $390,902. And it happened to coincide with former host Alex Trebek's birthday. Trebek died in 2020 after battling pancreatic cancer. Host and "Jeopardy!" icon Ken Jennings observed the occasion, signing off with, “Happy birthday, Alex.”

Riccardi is hot on the heels of Adriana Harmeyer, the most recent contestant with such an impressive streak. She won 15 games but only $349,600 last season. If he extends his winning streak, which began July 3, to the season finale on July 25, he’ll return this fall for the beloved quiz show's 42nd season.

On the July 22 episode, Riccardi faced Paul Ryan, a print and print marketing manager from Weymouth, Massachusetts, and Adriene Holland, a risk control manager from Powder Springs, Georgia. In the first round, Riccardi maintained a healthy distance between himself and his competitors. Going into Double Jeopardy! he’d piled high $11,600, while Holland and Ryan trailed with $3,800 and $3,000, respectively.

Scott Riccardi is a 14-day "Jeopardy!" champion.

In Round 2, Riccardi continued to clean house – or the Alex Trebek Stage. Entering Final Jeopardy!, Riccardi racked up $30,000, to Holland’s $12,400 and Ryan’s $9,800. Still, Riccardi’s fate depended on how well he knew the category, Languages in History, and the clue: "Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is said to have quipped, ‘To God I speak Spanish, to women Italian, to men French and to my horse’ this”

Ryan correctly identified the language as German, increasing his score to $13,000, while Holland incorrectly thought of English, dropping her to $4,600. Riccardi also guessed English, but a modest wager of only $1,999 allowed him to stay on top with earnings of $28,001.

“It sounds completely made up,” Riccardi told the show of his string of triumphs. “I really have experienced every type of game…It’s been a good variety.”

If Riccardi wins the remaining games this season, he’ll join Ken Jennings and Matt Amodio as the only contestants who have finished the season as a champion to return for the next. Riccardi long ago qualified for the next Tournament of Champions, which the player finds nerve-inducing.

"I'm definitely intimidated because I know some of these multi-day champions they probably come from Quiz Bowl backgrounds, and I only did that type of thing in high school," Riccardi said in a video shared to the “Jeopardy!” YouTube channel. "So, I’m worried that I’m going to run into these people who have all of this stuff built in, or if they’re a little older they’ll have more built-in, lived-in knowledge, which could be really tricky.”