‘Jeopardy!’ Boss Breaks Silence on Final Jeopardy Handwriting Controversy

Jeopardy! producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss has addressed the havoc-wreaking handwriting ruling from last week, and why the quiz show accepted the questionably written response.

For those who missed it, Rishabh Wuppalapati, an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, was going for his second win on Wednesday, October 16’s episode. He entered a neck-and-neck Final Jeopardy round with $10,400 while Rachel Cassidy, an associate professor from Rhode Island, was right behind with $10,100. Jay Eversman, an environmental lawyer from Missouri, trailed with $4,800.

The “College Towns” clue was: “2 schools in the Southeastern Conference are located in cities with this same name but in different “states.” The correct answer was “Columbia.” Both Cassidy and Wuppalapati (who changed his answer last second) were ruled correct. As the response was displayed, a visibly nervous Wuppalapati stated what he wrote to Ken Jennings: “Columbia,” he told the host. “I can read every letter,” Jennings subsequently ruled, and he won by $300 with $20,201.

However, many fans were outraged that his answer was accepted as his handwriting was rushed and to some, “illegible.” Viewers were also left demanding a Second Chance for Cassidy given the circumstances.

On Monday’s official Inside Jeopardy! podcast, Foss, joined by (now retired) champion Sam Buttrey, broke down the contentious ruling.

“And, of course, you’ll remember Rishabh wrote ‘Fayetteville’ first, crossed it out, and then in the final seconds, realized it was ‘Columbia.’ [He] wrote his response as quickly as possible,” Foss stated. “I know some people said ‘It should not have been accepted,’ ‘You couldn’t read it,’ ‘It was chicken scratch.’”

“But I’ve been here for a lot of these,” the former Clue Clue member continued. “And there are times where we feel like the word wasn’t completed or the letters that were chosen change the pronunciation of the word.”

As rules stipulate via Jeopardy.com: “Written responses to the Final Jeopardy! clue do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct and not add or subtract any extraneous sounds or syllables.”

Foss shared that the staff members who make these calls, including Jennings and the judges, were all unanimous in their decision that the response met these parameters — before the ruling was shown to viewers.

“In this case, I felt, as Ken did, as did our co-head writers Billy [Wisse] and Michele [Loud] — we all reviewed this before the ruling was made. That we could make out every one of those letters in ‘Columbia.’ And as a result, Rishabh goes on to win.”

Buttrey quipped that Wuppalapati should write his college thesis using a keyboard and most certainly not a stylus pen; a segue for Foss to discuss fan comments about the quiz show modernizing from stylus pens to keypads for Final Jeopardy. Foss wrote off the idea, arguing it would present problems of their own.

“That’s another thing I want to comment on. People were saying ‘Jeopardy!, when are you going to get with the times and stop having people write with the stylus you should have them typing it in.’”

“What people don’t realize is if we were to do that, how easily — we all have phones and mobile devices, how often does autocorrect come in for you? Because your fingers think you’re typing something and because of placement you might type a different letter. And you have 30 seconds and you’re not necessarily checking your work. Can you imagine losing a game of Jeopardy! because of a typing error? I would much rather depend on the stylus and my mind. I kindly disagree.”