‘Jeopardy!’ champ from New Jersey struggled to pronounce Schuylkill
Scott Riccardi won 16 games during his initial "Jeopardy!" run, but that didn't stop him from struggling to name Philadelphia's mighty river.
On Jeopardy!, contestants give their answers in the form of a question. Scott Riccardi’s should’ve been, “How do you pronounce Schuylkill?”
During Tuesday’s episode, the New Jersey native and his two competitors were given a U.S. geography clue close to home: “Pottsville & Reading both lie on this river that enters the Delaware at Philadelphia.”
Riccardi answered the clue correctly, but only after host Ken Jennings paused to determine if his pronunciation — “Skol-kull” — was close enough to award him $1,600.
As least he got the correct river. TJ Fisher, a marketing specialist from San Francisco, guessed “Lackawanna,” nailing the pronunciation but missing the answer by more than 100 miles.
Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer originally from San Diego, Calif., didn’t buzz in.
For the record, it’s pronounced “Skoo-kl.” One 15th century mapmaker just cut to the chase and labeled it the “Scool Kill River,” which would’ve been much easier to say and spell.
According to Francis Vincent’s 1870 history of Delaware, “Schuylkill” was named by the Dutch; it loosely translates to “hidden creek.” Before Europeans set foot in the region, the native Lenape people called it “Ganshowe-hánne,” meaning “roaring stream,” as recorded by missionary John Heckewelder.
Viewers should be thankful Riccardi and his competitors weren’t confronted with how to pronounce “Passyunk,” which continues to divide longtime Philly residents (and married couples).
Jeopardy! is in the finals of its annual Tournament of Champions, which featured the show’s most recent top contestants. Pasco won Monday and Tuesday, and needs just one more victory to win the tournament and collect its $250,000 prize.
Riccardi, an engineer and Rutgers University graduate born and raised in South Plainfield, Middlesex County, won 16 games during his 2025 run. That was good enough to tie for 10th most in the show’s history, matching Philly rideshare driver Ryan Long’s 2022 run. Riccardi also amassed $455,000 in earnings, the eighth most in regular-season play in the show’s history.