‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Are Fuming Over a Controversial Wrong Answer

A contestant’s pronunciation of an answer sparked a debate among fans of Jeopardy! last week. Fox News reports that some social media users were incensed over a contestant’s wrong answer on last Friday’s episode of the venerable game show. The incident occurred during the first round of the October 11 episode. The category was “Just Doin’ My Job”, and the answer was “Knows the proper use of propofol; can count to 16 (letters in the job); can tell people to count backward from 100”.

The correct question was “what is an anesthesiologist?”; while contestant Eamonn Campbell rang in and clearly knew the answer, he couldn’t quite master the word’s pronunciation, offering “anateesiologist” and “anathesiologist” before host Ken Jennings ruled him incorrect, costing him $200. Fellow contestant Dot White rang in with the correct pronunciation of the word. However, it became a moot point when Campbell won the game anyway, defeating both White and five-day champion Mark Fitzpatrick; after winning yesterday’s game as well, he will remain the defending champion on today’s episode. Social media was split, with some users criticizing the show (and Jennings, who is not the final arbiter of correct answers) for their persnickety nature, while others noted that pronunciation of answers has always mattered on Jeopardy!

How Are Disputes Resolved on ‘Jeopardy!’?

Although the questions on Jeopardy! (61 every night, including Final Jeopardy!) are written by a team of professional writers and researchers, they don’t always get it right. When a question can have multiple answers, or was written in an ambiguous fashion, contestants can challenge them (off-screen) with the show’s panel of judges, which includes writers, producers, researchers, and an attorney. Sometimes these reviews happen during the course of play, and sometimes during the show’s commercial breakers, after which the host will announce the correction and amend the contestants’ scores. There have even been times when contestants were incorrectly ruled wrong on a crucial question and have been invited back on to the show.

It’s an exciting time to be a fan of Jeopardy! In addition to the flagship show airing every night (with former champ Jennings now the sole host, after the departure of Mayim Bialik), Celebrity Jeopardy! is slated to return to ABC later this season, and a new spin-off, the Colin Jost-hosted Pop Culture Jeopardy!, will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on December 4.

Jeopardy! airs daily in syndication; check your local listings for the channel and time slot in your area. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.