3,420 players, 227 perfect rounds, and a wager column that leaned hard into boldness: 43% of all bets went 3x, the highest share in recent weeks. Players who committed at that tier earned it — 3x accuracy hit 80% against 66% on 1x — but the bold-and-right rate sat at 48%. Just under the break-even line. 
Jacques Pépin is where a lot of that math collapsed.
By the Numbers
- Total guesses
- 34,200
- Average accuracy
- 72%
- Hardest celebrity
- Jacques Pépin (17%)
- Easiest celebrity
Barack Obama (99%)- Biggest upset
- Jacques Pépin
- Players this week
- 3,420
- Perfect rounds
- 227
- Wager mix
- 1× 50% · 2× 7% · 3× 43%
What stood out
The split chart was busy at the top. 
Sinead O'Connor and 
Lou Reed each landed at 51–49, both deceased, both narrowly called correctly by the field. Right behind them, 
Carl Lewis drew 48% alive on 553 guesses — he's alive, so the majority went the wrong way. 
Clem Burke mirrored it almost exactly: 52% alive, and he's deceased. Four celebrities within two percentage points of a coin flip, all in different directions. Noisy week at the margin.
How 553 players guessed Carl LewisOn the other end: 
Layne Staley pulled 63% alive calls on 564 guesses. He's deceased. 
Joe Montana got 62% deceased calls on 377 guesses. He's alive. Athletes and musicians from the 1980s–90s ran wrong in both directions.
Bonus exact-year hits: 995 — the highest single-week total I've seen in a while. Players who knew their decades really knew them.
Featured: Jacques Pépin
He once worked as a personal chef for three French presidents and taught Julia Child how to debone a chicken, despite her being more famous for French cooking.
83% of the field called Jacques Pépin deceased. He's alive. That's 17% accuracy on 436 guesses — worst on the board, and by a margin that made the second-hardest miss (
Katalin Karikó at 30%) look almost reasonable. With 43% of the week's wagers going 3x, plenty of confident wrong answers hit the full penalty here. The 1970s–2010s active window wasn't enough of a signal. Players just didn't find their footing.
How 436 players guessed Jacques PépinHonorable mentions
- Katalin Karikó at 30% — 70% of players called the scientist deceased. She's alive. Second-hardest miss, and not particularly close.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky and 
Sugar Ray Leonard both landed at 27% accuracy — each pulled 73% wrong-direction calls. Both are alive. That's a rough bracket.- Barack Obama at 99% — 567 guesses, almost no dissent. He's alive. The board needed an anchor, and he was it.