[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, December 9 episode of Jeopardy!]
Jeopardy! fans were in for an impressive newcomer on Monday night in Bill McKinney, who dominated two-day champ Dave Bond in an all-out runaway, but the big win wasn’t without a tinge of remorse. McKinney’s only misgiving wasn’t about his performance—or what fans called another questionably written Final Jeopardy clue—but missing a chance for a “Bonding” moment with the ousted champ.
Bond, a retired grant writer from West Henrietta, New York, entered with a two-day total of $51,400, a third win would have cemented his place in the 2026 Tournament of Champions, given the cutoff for this 2025 postseason is up. He faced McKinney, a VP of restaurants & bars originally from Boston, Massachusetts, and Lisa O’Donnell, an ESL teacher from Vienna, Virginia.
During the interviews, Ken Jennings mentioned McKinney was a “James Bond fan.” The newcomer shared a wild anecdote about a bungee jump. “I’m a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. And I love James Bond. I may or may not model some of my life on him.” He clarified, “More the stunts and travel, less womanizing.” Jennings replied, “Good note.”
He continued, “But I found out you can do a bungee jump off the same dam that his stunt double jumps off of in Golden Eye. I happened to be in Europe so I went down and had to do it.” McKinney quipped he didn’t infiltrate a soviet facility afterward to which Jennings laughed and concluded, “No stunt double, you did it yourself, unlike James Bond.” With that, the host then turned to the returning champ, who was just standing there while coincidentally also a Bond, no one picking up the low-hanging fruit of a 007 pun.
After the Jeopardy! round, McKinney had mounted a huge lead of $7,000 bolstered by the “Mortal Matters” Daily Double which was seeking “Lenin.” O’Donnell had $4,600 and Bond trailed with $2,600.
In the Double Jeopardy round, McKinney didn’t look back, running the “Alliterative Movie Titles” category and picking up $5,000 on the second Daily Double seeking “Gone Girl.” That bold bet left little chance for catchup, and after O’Donnell missed the third Daily Double, and while Bond tried to prevent a runaway, McKinney pulled it off on the very last clue cementing victory. Going into Final Jeopardy, he led with $22,000, Bond had $10,600, and O’Donnell $6,800.
The “Islands of Europe” clue was, “In February 1793 the French were repulsed in an attack on this island from one just north that they controlled.” No one came up with the correct response, a bit of a convoluted way of getting to “Sardinia.” McKinney stood pat wagering $0 to win with $22,000.
Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode, celebrating the champ’s big victory. Many had to admit they were expecting a 007 tie-in given the other Bond on-stage.
“After Bill’s 007 anecdote, Ken could have asked Bond, ‘Dave Bond, what it’s like to be standing next to his biggest fan,’” one fan wrote.
McKinney buzzed in to the thread to say he agreed, and wished he had made the reference himself: “Easily my #1 regret is not referencing Dave during my anecdote. It was right there,” he wrote.
A third commented: “Yeah it’s not always easy to come up with these things when in the spotlight, but the connection didn’t go unnoticed. Congrats on a great performance!”
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“Congrats!!” echoed a fourth. “I came here to say that but knew someone already would.”
“I thought the same! Missed opportunity! Also, that’s an insane bungee jump. Apparently it’s the highest one you can do in Europe,” wrote a fifth.
Other fans in the thread took issue with the wording of Final Jeopardy, and it’s not the first time that’s happened this past week (who could forget “Pied Piper” or that “Crayons” clue; “crans” as Jennings put it?)
“Is it possible to have a more confusingly worded FJ?” asked a sixth.”The FJ’s have been really bad as of late,” replied another.
“I still got it but only because I could pause and figure out which Island they wanted,” wrote an additional fan.
“I would have replaced attack with invasion,” agreed one more.What did you think of Bill McKinney’s win over Bond, Dave Bond? What did you think of the Final Jeopardy clue? Do you think McKinney can keep it up and win his way into the 2026 postseason? Let us know in the comments below!
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