‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Complain Final Question Was ‘Way too Easy’

Jeopardy! finally had an easy final question that all three contestants got right after a series of Triple Stumpers and hard clues. The winner of the game even spelled the answer wrong but was still deemed correct.

Tyler Griffith, from Sturgis, Michigan, returned for his second game on Wednesday (May 28), after his shocking wager led him to win game one with only $800 in the end. For game two, he competed against Alice Welch, from Queens, New York, and Thomas Sweeney, from Morrow, Ohio.

“A Triple Stumper Final Jeopardy in yesterday’s game led to our champion Tyler Griffith squeaking by with a win,” host Ken Jennings said to kick off the episode.

Griffith, a criminal forensic scientist, found the first Daily Double of the game on clue one. With no money in his bank, he wagered the allotted $1,000. In “Europe,” the clue read, “This monolith is a nature reserve for about 230 Barbary macaques.” He answered correctly with “the Rock of Gibraltar.” This put him in the lead early in the game.

The first half of the round had two Triple Stumpers and only one incorrect answer (from Griffith). The clue that Griffith got wrong — “This retriever’s ancestors include two St. John’s water dogs rescued from an 1807 shipwreck off Maryland” — wound up being a Triple Stumper, but still cost him $1,000 after he answered a Labrador Retriever. The correct answer was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

It was a tight race between Griffith and Sweeney, a survey technician, until the first commercial break. But, in only three questions, Welch, an epidemiologist, who had $0, took the lead with $2,800. Griffith had $2,000 and Sweeney was in second with $2,400.

During the interviews, Welch shared that John Stamos caused her to become a pharmacist. There was an opportunity to meet the actor when she worked at a greeting card store during her senior year of high school. Her boss told her that if she went to the meet and greet she wouldn’t have her job anymore, so she decided to meet Stamos. Three days later, she got a job at the local pharmacy and then went to pharmacy school.

“He changed your life!” Ken Jennings said.

“He changed my life. Thanks, John,” Welch giggled.

“I hope you get the chance to tell him in person someday,” Jennings replied.

By the end of the round, there was only one Triple Stumper in the category “Entertaining Wolverines.” It read, “‘People will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom’ is intoned in a classic scene by this 1955 alum.” Welch buzzed in but didn’t give an answer and neither did the other contestants. Jennings revealed that it was James Earl Jones. Each of the contestants also picked up one incorrect answer. Welch led with $5,400. Sweeney was still in second with $3,200. The reigning champion only had $2,600.

In Double Jeopardy, Sweeney found the first DD on clue 10. He was in second with $4,400 and wagered $2,000. In “A Time to Every Purpose,” the clue read, “Academic Germans were the first to use this word to mean a 6-month period.” He answered with a shrug, “What is half year?” which was incorrect. The correct answer was a semester. He dropped down to third place with $2,400.

Welch found the last DD on clue 20. She had a substantial lead of $10,200 but decided to only wager $2,000. In “Double Vowels and Double Consonants,” the clue read, “The 2 predominant cultural & linguistic groups in Belgium today are the Flemings & these people.” Welch stared at the question and didn’t answer, dropping her down to $8,200. The correct answer was the Walloons. Welch still maintained the lead.

Sweeney took the lead by answering the last three questions of the round correctly. The Double Jeopardy round had 11 Triple Stumpers and four incorrect answers. This left Sweeney with $8,800. Welch was in a close second with $8,200. Griffith was in third with $5,400.

The game show contestants made up for the Triple Stumpers during Final Jeopardy when they all answered the “easy” clue correctly. The category was “Cars & Movies.” The clue was “A fake speedometer was used in this make of car from a 1980s movie, since the actual car’s speedometer didn’t go high enough.” The correct answer was a DeLorean from the Back to the Future franchise. The actual speedometer only went up to 85 when the movie needed 88. Even though everyone got it right, Sweeney spelled it “delorion” and then crossed it out and put “delorian,” which was also not spelled correctly.

“Spelled with an ‘I’ but we’ll take that,” Ken Jenning said. The Jeopardy! recap site Jeopardy! Fan reminded viewers that “spelling mistakes in Final Jeopardy only get ruled incorrect if it changes the pronunciation.”

Sweeney wagered $7,601, giving him a final total of $16,401. Griffith wagered $3,401, making his final total $8,801. Welch also wagered $3,401, leaving her with $11,601. This made Sweeney the new winner. He will be back on Thursday to face two new opponents.

Reddit users thought the Final Jeopardy question was “too easy” for anyone not to get. “FJ was way too easy,” one fan said.

“Seriously, that was a $100 or $200 question,” replied another.

“Really absurd, too easy even for Celebrity [Jeopardy],” replied another Reddit user.

“Yeah, it was an instant-get even before finishing reading the Q,” a fan replied.

However, one fan said, “Eh, I’m okay with an easyish FJ to balance out that brutal DJ board.”

“Kind of a gimme FJ that happens a lot where you could almost make the guess as soon as you hear the category and before the clue. But every FJ is easy to some people, so hey,” commented a fan.