Final ‘Jeopardy!’ Stirs Up Debate Following Contestant’s Flub

Meaghan Darwish June 15, 2023

Holly, Suzanne, and Kiran on 'Jeopardy!' — Jeopardy!, Inc.

Jeopardy!‘s latest game raises a curious question about Final Jeopardy! responses after one player’s flub catches the attention of fans.

In the June 15 episode, one-day champion Holly Hassel, an English professor from Fargo, North Dakota faced off against Reston, Virginia marketing manager Suzanne Goldlust, and Burlington, Vermont math teacher Kiran MacCormick. During the fast-paced game, Suzanne took a solid lead over her competitors, leaving little to the imagination once Final Jeopardy! rolled around and she had $17,700 in the bank, a comfortable lead over Holly’s $8,000 and Kiran’s $5,600.

(Credit: Jeopardy!, Inc.)

But once the Final Jeopardy! clue in the category of “The U.S. Government” was provided, they were left to serve up the corresponding question to, “Established in 1938, this congressional group was still issuing subpoenas in 1969 & finally ceased to exist 6 years later.”

The correct response was “What is HUAC, or House Un-American Activities Committee?” The big debate raised during the final though, had to do with Kiran’s incorrect response of “House Un-American Activities Commission.” The wrong use of “Commission,” brought Kiran up short, but his opponents, Holly and Suzanne opted for the abbreviation of “HUAC,” which some fans argue isn’t fair, according to their social commentary on Twitter.

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While some argue the use of the abbreviation doesn’t prove the players know that it’s “committee” versus “commission,” while others compare it to Jeopardy! responses involving last names versus full names. While the game rules fully applied in this case, do fans have an argument for a rule change in the future?

See their debate, below, and let us know what you thought of the outcome in the comments, below.

And the other two got it right because they abbreviated the answer. Kind of weak if you ask me…

— Brian Edwards (@BrianE810) June 15, 2023

You screwed Kirin.

Shameful.

How do we know the other players knew what HUAC stood for???

Plus, the HUAC was commissioned.

Shameful.

— General Healthy (@GeneralHealthy) June 15, 2023

I feel bad for the guy on Jeopardy. He guessed House Un-American Activities Commission, & the answer was House Un-American Activites Committee. The other 2 contestants just wrote down HUAC, & got credit for it. It’s correct, but kind of messed up.

— Billy Howell (@CoachBilly1) June 15, 2023

I don’t know what happened prior to today’s show, but that guy had at least 3 correct answers ruled incorrect, including one Italian word he pronounced exactly the same way Mayim corrected him with

— Alexei (@ALeXeiUK) June 15, 2023

Rooting hard for @vermontnea Scholars Bowl’s own Kiran MacCormick who’s competing on tonight’s episode of @Jeopardy!

— Matthew Vigneau (@vigneau2040) June 15, 2023

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