‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to Ken Jennings’ Harsh Ruling That Cost Contestant
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings caught some flak from viewers on Tuesday night (April 30) after making a harsh ruling that cost one contestant $800 in the middle of a tense game.
Tuesday’s episode saw reigning champion Amy Hummel, an ER doctor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taking on Bryan Carrasco, a mortgage loan originator from Columbia, Missouri, and Laura Bligh, a webmaster from Vienna, Virginia.
Hummel, who had already amassed a four-day total of $85,794, was looking for her fifth win but found stiff competition from Carrasco and Bligh. After the first round, Hummel and Bligh were tied on $4,800, while Carrasco followed closely behind with $4,200.
Things got dicey in the Double Jeopardy! round. Carrasco’s score dropped to $0 after he confused “Rhone” and “Rhine” during a Daily Double. Meanwhile, Hummel and Bligh stayed neck and neck, both answering multiple clues correctly.
However, the game took a turn when Bligh buzzed in to answer the $800 clue under the poetry-focused “Blank Verse” category. She was faced with the clue, “Blake: ‘Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the [blank] of the night.'”
Bligh responded with “What is a forest?” before adding an “S.” Unfortunately, Jennings had already cut her off and ruled her incorrect before she could get the “S” out.
This allowed Hummel to swoop in and nab the $800 by correctly answering, “Forests.”
Jennings explained that he “thought” but couldn’t be 100% sure that Bligh added the “S” after he’d already interjected and made his ruling.
“Yes, it’s plural; I think, Laura, you added the “S” after I had already ruled against you. I heard “forest” first,” he said.
“This was not Ken’s best day,” one viewer wrote on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum. “He ruled against Laura just as she was adding the S to “forests burning bright.” He said, “I think I ruled against you before you added the S.” OK, so couldn’t the judges have stopped taping to verify that? I rewound my DVR and she clearly pronounced the S as he said “No.” That $1,600 swing would’ve given Amy the lead after DJ.”
“The “you can change your response until the host rules against you” rule has always been dumb,” added another. “The rule, as with every other quiz show I’m aware of, should be to take the first completed response as determined by the judges. The speed with which the host responds should be irrelevant.”
Another commenter said, “I’m guessing they either did stop tape, or checked it while the rest of the round played out and determined that the original ruling was correct.”
Bligh herself responded to the comments, writing, “I did think I added the Sssss in time, but on Jeopardy they measure in the hundredths of seconds. Still, I am comforted that at least one viewer was on my side.”
Despite this setback, Bligh was able to match Hummel heading into Final Jeopardy, where both stood at $7,600. Carrasco trailed with $3,200.
However, it didn’t matter, as Bligh couldn’t answer the final clue (“Maybe because he was too Baroque, Bernini was rejected as a name for a member of this group created in 1983”), whereas Hummel and Carrasco both answered correctly (“Who are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”).
With her $7,600 wager, Hummel won the episode with $15,200, marking her fifth straight victory and guaranteeing her spot in the next Tournament of Champions. She now stands at a five-day total of $100,994.
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Comments are closed on this story.
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O
Ken had nothing to do with it. The judges make the rulings, Ken must honor their call.
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It still amazes me how many people think Ken Jennings is making those decisions. Same thing with wheel of fortune. Pat Sajak does not make those decisions there are judges there that make those decisions. When will you people learn that. Quit watching if you’re that unhappy.
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B
After you explain it the correct way
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P
Here's the thing...I'm sure they DID stop taping and check the replay. They do that multiple times on many episodes. You wouldn't know if they did though because it's not shown. They even have lawyers on set to make sure they're adhering to the rules so I see no problem with the ruling.
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So you've been there! That's great.
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NO ONE, least of all Jeopardy! fans, should be surprised or shocked at this where the rules of the game don't allow any verbal mispronunciation..but..in the decisive final showdown..contestants are allowed to misspell words without any penalty.
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There are no penalties for misspellings in Final Jeopardy only if the misspelling doesn't change the pronunciation. If it does, penalty.
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When will people get it? Jennings wears an earpiece and gets the rulings from judges off-stage. Believe it or not, it was the same with Alex. People are so busy picking Ken apart because they feel like he's no Alex that they look for any little thing. Guess what nobody will ever measure up to Alex and people will have to deal with it. The show is edited so you never actually see any stoppages in play. 😒🤔
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But the host has discretion on when to rule, and when to allow more time for a contestant to finish a response or make a correction. It sounds like he jumped in pretty quickly on this one. (I often dump on the entitled contestant masquerading as a host, but never over the final rulings, the wording of clues, or anything else not in his control.)
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She said "What is a forest", which is clearly singular, before adding the s. Plus the a is not part of the blank she in the line. If she had said "What is forest", she might not have been ruled on so quickly. The correct answer is not "a forests" and extra words matter in Jeopardy.
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G
still a good game. That granny knew her stuff, but Amy got the final jeopardy answer...
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It came out with an (s) on my CC. I think they should give her another chance to play in a future competition. She was really good.
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Five time champions boost ratings. Who's fault anyone thinks it is does not matter, it was a business decision.
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That's quite a stretch!
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Hey, he ruled her out fair and square. This happens all the time. Thing is, he's never consistent when it comes to the timing of ruling out. It's almost impossible to be, so I do think a change needs to be made to make it fair game. It's all in the timing and how fast a contestant can speak up the correct answer before it's too late. Ken's job is hard enough. He doesn't deserve such harsh criticism.
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There's no, one, single, absolute system of response time, for any Jeop contender.
I find that Ken J allows some contestants more time to answer, esp when they hit the double Jeop panel.
For fairness sake, an exact timed buzzer should be used. Albeit 5-7-10 seconds, for a response to be made. Ken's not a stop watch.
At least everyone would have an equal opportunity to make a reply.
In addition, slow players, like Amy, should be advised, after the first taping, to speed it up. She picks painfully slow, ergo, not clearing the board of all questions.
And, Ken also mispronounced the word lived. When the question was "...slow-lived", he said slow-lived.
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Where did he pronounce it incorrectly? It's unclear from your post. He pronounced lived as lived. Okaaayyy....
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We are the video? This week article does include a video but it's not of this event.
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Where is...? auto correct problems
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Meanwhile boring Amy didn't even pronounce forests correctly... No T
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Jeopardy is beco.ing more and more leftists to certain people on the panel. Won't watch the new masters because they so favor a man in woman's cloths.
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