‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Ken Jennings Allows Answer Despite Mispronunciation
The first semi-finals of the Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard tournament got underway on Wednesday, November 22, with contestant Nick Cascone making easy work of the competition.
However, Cascone’s win wasn’t without its share of controversy, as the orthopedic physician assistant from Queens, New York, was deemed correct on an answer where he messed up the pronunciation.
The moment came at the end of Double Jeopardy! when Cascone selected the last clue on the board, the $2000 tile under the “Belgium” category.
“In WWI the second battle of this western Belgian cit’Y” saw some of the earliest use of deadly poison gas,” the clue read.
Cascone appeared to know the correct answer (Ypres), but he struggled with how to say it, attempting three different variations while host Ken Jennings watched from the side.
“Ypres,” Cascone finally settled on, almost spelling out the word phonetically.
Jennings seemed hesitant to rule on the answer, telling Cascone, “Hmm, you’re not saying it right.”
“I don’t speak Belgian or Walloon,” Cascone replied, throwing his hands up.
“The ‘S’ is silent, and the ‘R’ is kind of silent,” Jennings explained before delivering some good news. “You got there eventually. We will give you credit for ‘Ypres.'”
Cascone breathed a sigh of relief as he was awarded the $2000, taking his total to $23,200. This put him way in front of his opponents, Deanna Bolio, and Kit Sekelsky, who stood at $3,000 and $1200, respectively.
Some viewers were surprised Jennings ruled the answer as correct given the show is usually a stickler on pronunciations.
“Awesome job by Nick, but a bit surprised they gave him credit,” wrote one fan on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.
Another added, “Great job by Nick. Would be curious to see how they would have ruled the last clue had the game been closer.”
“I was doing the same at home, stumbling over how to pronounce Ypres,” said another.
“If you don’t speak the language, then just pronounce all the letters in the word or name phonetically, no matter how goofy it sounds,” one fan suggested. “Nick could have said “why-press” and would have immediately been given credit.”
Cascone himself commented on the thread, revealing, “I was about to spell it.”
However, fellow Champions Wildcard contestant, Jilana Cotter, replied, saying, “They might not have accepted that either! During my second chance tape day one of the contestants asked if we could spell a word that we had no idea how to say (I think “Croesus” was the example given) and they told us we should always at least try to pronounce it.”
Despite the ‘Ypres’ struggle, Cascone comfortably won the episode, even though he didn’t answer the Final Jeopardy! clue correctly. He will now advance in the tournament, which is set to wrap up in December.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Comments are closed on this story.
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L
Oh, what a critical spirit TV Insider perpetuates!😢 Too often, much ado about nothing...
11
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P
Agree. Stirring up drama and controversy for clicks.
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G
I don't know why the judges were so hesitant to accept it - they accept mispronunciation, provided it's consistent with the spelling, as people who read things don't always hear how the words are spoken.
8
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C
I would have spelled it. They give credit for FJ answers that aren't spelled quite right as long as you don't add an extra syllable or sound -- why wouldn't spelling it count if you spelled it right? It's not like everyone knows how to pronounce it.
8
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O
I would have spelled it. But regardless, it was obvious he knew the answer so it was correct for Ken to give him credit.
7
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J
^^ this. It's not like the city Ypres is a household word, familiar to everyone. I bet most Americans have never even seen the word in print, much less ever heard it pronounced. People have enough trouble with more common place names, like Worcester, Poughkeepsie, and Versailles, just to name a few.
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B
I think they should allow spelling if they are going to be such sticklers about pronouncing an answer correctly, as I am sure it's common to see these words in writing without ever hearing how they are pronounced.
5
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P
I think "Ernest Brognine" was a bigger uncaught issue.
5
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R
He showed he knew the answer. No problem.
3
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P
It's supposed to be a game about one's knowledge of facts, not one's ability to pronounce obscure names in a foreign language.
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P
I didn’t have as much of a problem with that answer as I did with the geometric shape answer. As a card-carrying pagan, I can tell you that a star by itself is a “pentagram”. When you put it in a circle, it’s called a “pentacle”. The “correct” answer was incorrect.
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P
I would have answered “wipers”. Wasn’t that the British pronunciation in WW I?
1
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P
Who knows? I don't remember -- I was just a baby then.
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R
I've seen Ken do this a lot, some he gives a pass and others he hammers. I've seen him say "correct" and then pronounce the word correctly for the contestant. I know the two shouldn't be compared but I don't think Alex would have let a lot of what Ken does by.
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G
Jeopardy judges are sticklers for spelling in Final Jeopardy, but I've never noticed them being sticklers for pronunciation during the game. Players mispronounce words all the time. AT loved to correct their pronunciations, but still gave them credit for the answer. Also, it ain't KJ making these decisions. It's the judges/production speaking in his earpiece.
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R
I agree. Please get back to alternating hosts soon.
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G
No more Mayim, EVER!
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P
Only if the alternate is Buzzy instead of MB.
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