Ken Jennings jokes ‘we’re all too young for this’ as Jeopardy! question that had fans ‘yelling at TV’ stumps all players
JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings cracked an awkward age-related joke Friday after one question left the contestants stumped.
The clue came during the show’s season finale which saw Rachel Bradley crowned as the season 40 winner.
5
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings – seen here during Friday’s season finale – admitted that the show tends to skew to younger audiencesCredit: Jeopardy!
→ Swipe to see more articles
5
Jeopardy! players Davey Morrison, Steve Babish, and Rachel BradleyCredit: Jeopardy!
However, the road to the Jeopardy! crown was not easy as one question seemed to baffle the contestants so much, that Ken was forced to admit that the questions were slightly skewed.
The question came during one of the rounds when Steve Babish selected the $800 amount in the “We crack ourselves up” category.
“After Tim Conway’s ad-lib story about Siamese elephants,” read the clue.
“Vicki Lawrence broke this show’s cast with ‘Sure that little (bleep) for through.'”
While the answer to the question was The Carol Burnett Show, none of the competitors were able to get it.
“Apparently we are all a little too young for The Carol Burnett show,” Ken joked.
However, many fans of the game show – who were already annoyed over not being able to watch the show due to the Paris Olympic games – were shocked at the stumper.
“Oh, come on. How did they not know the Carol Burnett Show,” one angry bemused viewer posted on X.
“Because older tv is not fashionable amongst Jeopardy! geeks for whatever reason,” another user responded.
“Wow. A Carol Burnett clue went unanswered in Jeopardy,” a second person said sarcastically.
Jeopardy! crowns new champ on season finale – but fans are deflated as they’re unable to watch due to Paris Olympics
“Carol Burnett Show! Classic TV screaming,” stated a third.
“Frequently, when there’s a pop culture question from before, say, the mid eighties, the resulting stand-and-stare makes this AARP-eligible guy feel really old,” a user shared on an online forum.
“So, I yell out “too young!” at the screen to make me feel better. I feel like Ken’s thinking the same thing a lot of the time, but only happened to mention it tonight.”
“Yes! There’s a definite age gap opening up between the writers and contestants,” another shared.
Jeopardy! Universe
Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here are all of those
Jeopardy! – (primetime) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7pm
Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament
Celebrity Jeopardy! – 1992 to present, has celebrities comepete against each other to raise money for chairty
Jeopardy! Masters – 2023 to present, features six notable recent Jeopardy! champions competing against each other
Jeopardy! National College Championship – 2022 to present, undergraduates from 36 colleges and universities across America compete to win $100,000
Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years
The shock that no one knew the answer came after The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed that Ken didn’t have any involvement in writing the questions.
According to a Jeopardy! insider, Ken “takes the job seriously” and “doesn’t want to screw up,” but he’s also “not writing for the show.”
The insider reported that he usually leaves those up to the show’s writers and producers.
“He certainly has done that [offered a punch-up on a clue] but it’s not a regular thing and it’s not what he’s being paid to do,” the source told The U.S. Sun.
“The writing operation on Jeopardy! is a nine-to-five, five-day-a-week operation because the writers are creating clues not just for the daily TV show but for the various theme weeks, tournaments, celebrity editions, contestant recruitment tests and, importantly, for the mountain of Jeopardy! merchandise, from calendars to video games and everything in between.”
“It’s a huge assembly line that feeds into a bunch of smaller businesses and Ken knows better than to meddle with any of it,” the source added.
Like his late predecessor, Alex Trebek, Ken puts his faith entirely in the show’s system.
“He trusts the system and isn’t trying to reinvent it as he settles into the permanent hosting job,” the source said.
The insider also confirmed that while Ken is “engaged and focused, notably more so than Mayim was.”
According to the source, Ken is devoted to maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
“He has a full family life at home and he’s always developing other television projects or book projects,” the source added.
“But when he’s at Jeopardy! he takes the job seriously and he doesn’t want to screw this up.”
5
The question came during one of the rounds when Steve Babish selected the $800 amount in the “We crack ourselves up” categoryCredit: Jeopardy!
5
Rachel Bradley was crowned as the season 40 winnerCredit: Jeopardy!
5
Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!Credit: Getty
