Jeopardy! viewers are left in shock over Ken Jennings’ ‘BRUTAL’ questions that left contestants baffled: ‘That was painful to watch’

Jeopardy! viewers voiced serious concerns that the ABC game show has become ‘way too difficult’ after contestants were left powerless in the face of Ken Jennings repeatedly ‘brutal’ questions during Wednesday night’s episode.

Players Zach Eckstein, Nella Ballauer, and Jay Fisher racked up near record-breaking 21 triple stumpers after the host, 50, presented them with several tricky clues.

The Cybertalk category proved to be particularly difficult for the trio, with only one out of the five questions answered correctly.

One clue that left players dumfounded was: ‘It’s the two-word term for the physical separation of a computer system from others, and a good way to protect against hacking.’

Jay, a government relations manager from Illinois, incorrectly buzzed in with ‘fire wall,’ before Ken revealed the correct answer to be ‘air gap.’

Ken Jennings repeatedly left his contestants puzzled during Wednesday’s Jeopardy!

The players were presented with several tough clues, which viewers deemed ‘too difficult’

Another clue from the category was: ‘It’s the diplomatic word for the standards governing an exchange of data between computer systems.’

Nella, a church secretary from Texas, wrongly answered ‘handshakes,’ while the correct response was ‘protocols.’

Final Jeopardy! also left the players drawing blanks when Ken asked: ‘In a 1980 National Book Award Winner, we learn this title character gets his name from the rank of his late dad – Technical Sergeant.’

All three contestants were wrong and failed to muster up ‘who is T.S. Garp?’ leaving Jay to drop to a final score of $5,300, Nella $1, and Zach $0.

Viewers were in shock at the ‘rough set of clues’ and claimed it was far too challenging.

‘I’ll never be on Jeopardy but man what a rough night to be on, category wise. Brutal,’ wrote one viewer on Reddit.

Another agreed: ‘God damn that was a rough set of clues. Not just for the contestants either – there were so many responses I’ve never heard of in my life.’

A third added: ‘Is that a record for the most unanswered questions? That was insanity.’

Nella was completely baffled by a clue from the Cybertalk category

All three contestants failed to correctly answer the Final Jeopardy clue

Viewers branded the latest episode ‘incredibly difficult’ following the game

Over on X, one person wrote: ‘Brutal night for Jeopardy! contestants. Tough categories. #JeopardyTOC level.’

‘Tonight’s Jeopardy! episode was way too difficult,’ another noted.

A third observed: ‘Wow, these contestants were stumped quite a bit tonight.’

‘Where are the writers getting these ridiculous obscure questions that no one knows?’ asked a fourth.

Wednesday’s episode contained a whopping 21 triple stumpers – meaning that all three players failed to answer a clue – but it is not the highest number.

During one game that aired last year, there were a record-breaking 23 triple stumpers.