Ken Jennings hosts ‘Jeopardy!’ on a rotating basis with Mayim Bialik
“Jeopardy!” is in deep water after Wednesday night’s final clue left viewers sunk.
Game show co-host Mayim Bialik revealed the Final “Jeopardy!” category as “World of Water,” with the clue reading: “The Bass Strait divides Tasmania & mainland Australia & hydrographers have disputed which of these 2 larger bodies it’s part of.”
In a sink or swim moment for the contestants, professor Lee Papa answered the clue incorrectly with “Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.”
Returning “Jeopardy!” champion Ben Goldstein and the other contestant, Nabeela Rahman, answered correctly with “Indian and Pacific Oceans.” Goldstein was crowned the four-day champion with $37,293.
Passionate game show fans sounded the alarm on the Final “Jeopardy!” prompt and claimed it was “poorly worded.”
“The Aussies would say What are the Pacific and Southern Oceans?. Their definition of the Southern Ocean goes all the way to the south coast of their continent,” a puzzled viewer stated on the show’s YouTube page.
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Another fan responded to the geographical comment writing, “The question is poorly worded: I think the default position of Australians on this question would be ‘What are the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea?’ but you do you America.”
Other “Jeopardy!” viewers were quite pleased with the final clue and argued it was the “easiest” prompt the popular game show has had in a while.
“Could this have been the easiest FJ clue in a while? All the more amazing that someone thought Australia was next to the Atlantic Ocean,” a fan on Reddit shared.
While some viewers were happy with the Final “Jeopardy!” clue being “ridiculously easy,” others continued to slam Bialik’s hosting tactics.
“The game is so slow, it’s hard to watch. If Mayim waited any longer to tell a contestant if they are correct or incorrect with their answer, they would need to make the show an hour long,” a Twitter user suggested.
Former “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings and actress Bialik have officially split hosting duties since July 2022.
“Mayim and Ken are both extraordinarily talented and simply lovely humans,” Michael Davies, the show’s executive producer, previously said. “They support the staff and each other. They love and respect this institution of a television program. In return, the staff and I are honored to work alongside them.”
Before Bialik and Jennings took over, the show was hosted by Alex Trebek, whose tenure at the game show spanned 37 seasons. After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, the 80-year-old died in November 2020.
