Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings in shock after champ snaps at host for being ‘incorrect’ before his huge win

JEOPARDY!’s Ken Jennings was left in visible shock after the reigning champ Cris Pannullo snapped at him on stage.

During Monday’s episode, he corrected the host before his massive second win.

Cris Pannullo got short with Ken Jennings before his massive 2nd winCredit: ABC

The Jeopardy! host turned to the camera in shockCredit: ABC
Cris faced J. Scott Gabrysiak, a paralegal from North Mankato, Minnesota and Jenny Millat, an artist from Ohio.

The customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey – who beat 4-day champ David Sibley on Friday and spent years as a professional poker player – was asked about his pet rabbit.

“You strike me as a thinky poker type so I want to humanize you here,” Ken encouragingly singled him out during the Q&A, adding: “Tell us about your cute pet.”

“Well about 10 years ago my girlfriend Heather spotted a rabbit hopping in our front yard,” Cris began.

Ever since, he revealed: “We have lived at the mercy of a bunny named Lentils.”

“Lentils is cute,” Ken added: “Does Lentils eat lentils?”

Cris sharply snapped back: “No you cannot feed a rabbit lentils.”

The crowd nervously laughed as Ken physically jumped back and put up his hands.

“Oh, please, do not feed rabbits lentils, Cris is warning you off!”

“Hay,” Cris then went as far as corrected on what rabbits eat. “A lot of timothy hay.”

‘Was Final Jeopardy fair?’

Going into the last round, Cris had a towering $30,800, J. Scott $4,400 and Jenny $8,800.

The Final Jeopardy clue read: “These 5 words that end a poem are also a proverb; one citation across the centuries includes a reminder not to make the wall too high.”

All three players wrote down the intended response of “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Frustratingly, however, the difficult-to-jot five-word clue (given the players have 30 seconds) left J. Scott’s response unfinished by two words.

Even though his score had him far behind, one fan lamented on YouTube: “Aw I feel bad for J. Scott :(”

Another wrote on Reddit: “Final Jeopardy with a writing issue – It was the right call. (but was having a 5 word Final Jeopardy the right call?)”

A third agreed: “That was too long. Sure, 2 of the players were able to write it completely, but if you came up with the answer halfway or something, you probably wouldn’t stand a chance (unlike with a short answer).”

In the ever-important final portion players have a short window to both guess the answer and write that and their wager onto the podium screen.

‘We found a new star’

Regardless, after tearing Ken a new one, Cris tore through the game, thrilling fans at home.

With $3K more on the final clue, he hopped to a massive total of $33,800 with 26 correct, 1 incorrect (and a 2-day total is $63,379) and will go for win three tomorrow.

“We found a new star, he’s clearly very good” one fan wrote online.

“I am here for a Cris run,” wrote another.

One more pointed out he scored the second-highest single-game total all season.

“Cris is super fast on that buzzer!!! That champ is also really good finding all the Daily Doubles!” wrote a third.

He found all three of the hidden clues widening his lead with ease.

Another wrote: “Cris had a slightly sluggish start. But boy once he got going, he went thermonuclear.”

‘No more teases!’

Execs also have hinted a contestant on the new season was already be on a multi-day if not multi-week winning streak.

On the show’s official podcast Inside Jeopardy in August, producer and former “Clue Crew” member Sarah Whitcomb Foss was joined by guest-slash-beloved alum Buzzy Cohen.

Sarah said: “I can tell you, It’s only been a few weeks into [taping] Season 39 but it’s off to a fantastic start.”

Buzzy buzzed in: “You would think ‘Oh there’s going to be this letdown.’ But that is not the way that Jeopardy! has been rolling lately.”

Sarah then cryptically added: “Amy Schneider was midway through her fantastic run when the Professor’s tournament aired [and interrupted regular episodes] so, we’ll see.

“It could be something similar in Season 39.”

Buzzy then replied: “Hmm…” and Sarah concluded “Okay,” both agreeing to move on from “teases.”

Season 39

Jeopardy!’s brand new season premiered on September 12th and alum Ken Jennings, 48, is hosting until January.

As Season 38 wrapped and before the now-airing Season 39, he and actress Mayim Bialik – now handling Celebrity Jeopardy! – were officially announced as the permanent replacements for the late, great Alex Trebek.

Ken and Mayim began regularly filling in for the legendary Alex in 2021 after his tragic 2020 passing at age 80 and a whirlwind of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts.

They included Savannah Guthrie, fan-favorite LeVar Burton, Dr. Oz, Aaron Rodgers, Anderson Cooper, and many more who each scored a week or so at it.

The search also landed on former executive producer Mike Richards who nabbed the host gig from the inside before the shocking decision was “reversed” a week later when his misogynistic comments were unearthed.

Now, the two have been selected and the smoke has cleared on the heated host search – its new EP Mike Davies is running with ideas like the “run the category” cash bonus and the show, having secured its presenters, is now expanding like never before.

Mayim started hosting the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy! on Sundays on September 25th – its second episode was slammed as a “farce” – and is hosting the regular show in the new year.

Jeopardy! airs every weeknight – check your local listings.