Jeopardy! fans call out Adriana Harmeyer’s ‘awkward’ interaction with new champ and blame Ken Jennings for ‘jinxing’ her

JEOPARDY! had an awkward exchange after the long-time champ loss to a new champion.

Adriana Harmeyer won 15 games, more than anyone has in two years, and she lost the game show on the latest episode.

Jeopardy! fans pointed out an awkward reaction between Adriana Harmeyer (left) and Drew Basile (middle) on last night’s episode after her lossCredit: Jeopardy

Fans think that host Ken Jennings jinxed Adriana by saying that she might join the top 10 players in Jeopardy! history if she had wonCredit: Jeopardy
She faced off against Drew Basile and Tekla Sauter.

After 15 games, Adriana’s total was $349, 600.

During the final Jeopardy! round, she did not get the answer correct.

The champion wagered $1,400, which brought her total down to $7,900.

Tekla answered correctly with “Polo,” but even after she wagered $8,601, Drew was still in the lead before he gave his answer.

Drew answered wrong, but he only wagered $118.

This made his total $23,482.

Ken, 50, acknowledged that Adriana’s streak was over, but she had the 11th longest streak of all-time on the show.

AWKWARD EXCHANGE

After Ken said that Adriana would be back in the Tournament of Champions, she looked disappointed and nodded her head.

Ken gave the outro and said that Drew would be back on the next episode.

Jeopardy! star Adriana Harmeyer loses to Survivor alum after 15 wins as fans accuse ‘know it all’ of ‘gloating’ over win
The camera then panned to the contestants.

Drew shook Tekla’s hand, who looked happy despite losing.

He then turned to Adriana and gestured to her awkwardly.

It took a second before she reached over to shake his hand.

Jeopardy! Host Timeline

Jeopardy! has had a tumultuous history regarding hosts after the death of the iconic Alex Trebek in 2020. Here are all of the hosts since the game show’s inception in 1964.

Art Fleming – 1964 to 1975, he was the original host of the daytime version of Jeopardy! on NBC.

Alex Trebek – 1984 to 2020, the late, great Alex hosted Jeopardy!’s modern iteration for 36 years until his death from pancreatic cancer.

Guest hosts – 2020 to 2021, Jeopardy! tested out a series of guest hosts for week or two-week stints, including Anderson Cooper, LaVar Burton, and Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Richards – 2021, he was named host for one week before resigning amid controversy. He was the show’s executive producer at the time.

Mayim Bialik – 2021 to 2023, when Mike was announced as the show’s new host, Mayim was chosen to host tournaments and primetime specials.

Mayim and Ken Jennings – 2022 to 2023, 74-time champion Ken (the longest-winning contestant ever) joined Mayim as a guest host and they split hosting duties.

Ken Jennings – 2023 to present. Last December, Mayim announced on Instagram that she would “no longer” host Jeopardy! after a lengthy hiatus, having stood with the writer’s strike, and Ken was named sole host.

Ken now helms all editions of Jeopardy! including Celebrity Jeopardy!, the nightly show, and other primetime specials like Masters.

The shake was only for a brief second and then she shook Tekla’s hand.

Tekla and Drew has smiles on their faces as they talked to Ken, but Adriana seemed disappointed in her loss, wearing a stoic expression.

‘KEN JINXED HER’

Reddit users discussed the June 19 episode on the platform.

Many pointed out that Drew and Adriana’s handshake was awkward.

Others said that Ken jinxed Adriana when he mentioned her streak at the beginning of the episode.

“Kind of an awkward hand shake at the end there between Drew and Adriana,” one fan said.

“Adriana seemed legit bummed at the end when Ken came back to her after he crowned Drew the new champ. I think perhaps it was the lost chance to crack the all-time top-ten (Ken jinxed her at the start of the show when he said that lol),” one fan said.

“If she can do it again today, she will join our leaderboard of legends for consecutive game won, an honor we reserve for only the top 10 players in Jeopardy! history,” Ken said at the beginning of the show.

Watch Drew take on two new competitors on June 20.