Ken Jennings Accidentally Giving ‘Jeopardy!’ Solution, Cursing Delights Web
While Jeopardy! is typically thought of as a serious show where people show off their intellects, Tuesday’s episode is a much looser, laid-back exhibition match—and with his guard down, host Ken Jennings delighted the internet by accidentally revealing the solution to one of the game’s clues—and immediately cursing after realizing what he’d done.
A clip of the episode, shared by Twitter user @ACinPhilly started to go viral Tuesday evening. In the video, Jennings says, “Forty, 23, 38 and 74, which is larger than all of them—” before an awkward smile fills his face.
“You gave it away!” an off-screen, off-microphone voice shouts.
“Oh, s***!” Jennings replies, grimacing, as the crowd and contestants laugh and contestant Matt Amodio jokingly tries to repeatedly buzz in. “It’s just pretend!”
The exhibition game featured champions Amodio, Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach. The episode aired on the second anniversary of the passing of former host Alex Trebek, and the show aired a tribute to him, which was also posted to the official Jeopardy Twitter account.
The full episode is expected to be released at 11 p.m. ET on the show’s official YouTube channel, youtube.com/jeopardy.
The flub delighted the internet, with many fans sharing their enjoyment of the looser episode.
“This is the most unhinged episode of Jeopardy and I am loving it #Jeopardy,” @kaitginger528 tweeted.
“This Schneider/Amodio/Roach exhibition game is funnier and more fun than all the celebrity Jeopardy games combined,” @KatTheWolverine tweeted.
“Y’all. There is a moment in this game that I loved getting to hear on set because I knew it would be cut from the broadcast,” @OneEclecticMom tweeted, likely referring to Jennings’ blooper. “THEY DIDN’T CUT IT [mind blown emoji] Do not miss this.”
While Tuesday’s Jeopardy! episode delighted fans, last week’s episode of the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy! upset them when comedian Hasan Minhaj appeared on the show. The Patriot Act star was accused of “mugging for the camera” and “stealing focus away from the show itself,” by Dustin Rowles on the pop culture blog Pajiba.
Minhaj later appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to address the criticism.
“Jeopardy! is like American elections,” he told Fallon. “There is no second or third place, so it incentivizes bad behavior. If you’re second or third, you gotta give all the other contestants the smoke. I’m sorry. I gotta kamikaze-mission you.”
He also gave an insincere apology on The Tonight Show.
“To the fans of Jeopardy!, I want to take this moment to apologize,” he said. “I’m sorry I desecrated an American institution. I’m sorry I ripped your 7 p.m. linear TV pacifier out of your geriatric mouth. And most importantly, I’m sorry for trying to make Jeopardy! fun.”
Even though some fans weren’t into Minhaj’s antics, Jeopardy! insiders enjoyed his performance. On Monday’s Inside Jeopardy! podcast episode, champion Buzzy Cohen and executive producer Mike Davies praised him.
“These celebrity shows are getting better and better,” Cohen said. “Coming into this, I thought it was Wil Wheaton’s game by a mile. I think Hasan knew a lot of stuff, but next time, maybe we will see a more composed Hasan.”
When Cohen said that he hoped Minhaj returns to the show, Davies hinted that he could.
“Celebrity Jeopardy! is doing so well in prime-time,” he said. “I think we’ll be back for years to come, we may repeat some people.”
Newsweek reached out to the producers of Jeopardy! for comment.
