‘Jeopardy!’: See Ken Jennings Deliver Zinger After Contestant’s Fatal Blunder

This… Is… Jeopardy!

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Ken Jennings tries to keep a straight face when reading out contestants’ answers on Jeopardy!, but even he couldn’t hide his shocked reaction at the end of Thursday’s (October 12) episode.

The contestant in question was attorney Steve Clarke, a former two-day winner from Season 38, who was taking on former three-day champ Josh Saak and one-day winner Valerie Castelo as part of the currently airing Champions Wildcard tournament.

Clarke and Saak went back and forth throughout the episode, with Clarke landing the final Daily Double, giving him a slight lead heading into Final Jeopardy! with $19,100 to Saak’s $16,400.

The Final Jeopardy!, which came under the “Word Origins” category, seemed relatively simple on the surface. The clue read: “Though it meant ‘seasickness’ in Latin, this 6-letter word now refers to a more general feeling of sickness.”

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Saak and Castelo wrote the correct answer, “Nausea,” with the former adding a further $2,701 to his total. At this point, it seemed like a sure thing that Clarke would walk away as the episode’s winner… until he revealed his answer.

Clarke wrote “Malaise,” which was not only the wrong answer but also a 7-letter word, making it doubly incorrect.

Jennings failed to hold in his surprise, saying, “Oh no… ‘What is Malaise,” as Clarke looked on in disappointment.

“He might be coming up with nausea right now,” the host quipped as Clarke lost $13,701 from his total, putting him in second place and handing the victory over to Saak.

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Fans enjoyed the competitive nature of the episode, even though many were shocked that Clarke messed up his final answer.

“Easiest final jeopardy in a while,” wrote one viewer on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum, with another responding, “I thought the same thing and was shocked when Steve didn’t get it. I’m not very good at that category and got it instantly.”

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“That was the easiest final Jeopardy clue I’ve seen this season… I was in between nausea or queasy for a second but I decided on nausea,” added another commenter.

Castelo, who got the answer correct, defended her fellow opponent, commenting on the Reddit thread, “It’s also super easy to get stuck on an answer or just right something down that you know is wrong because that’s what you have and it’s better to guess than not guess.”

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“All in all, that was a thrilling game to watch. One of the best I’ve seen this season thus far,” said another fan.

“I’ve been looking forward to this game since the field was announced, and it didn’t disappoint as I was big fans of both Josh and Steve during their original runs,” another added.

“Great game! Based on the players’ respective stats coming into this match, I was expecting Saak to dominate, but it seemed like he and Steve were basically evenly-matched in terms of knowledge, and Steve had a slight edge on the buzzer,” said another viewer.