What is: not fair?
Newly appointed “Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings is already getting flak for allowing a contestant to correct his wrong answer during gameplay.
The 48-year-old — who now permanently splits hosting duties with Mayim Bialik — was blamed for the first controversy of Season 39 when he asked four-game champion Luigi de Guzman to repeat his answer.
“Here’s a typical early 19th-century landscape by this British painter,” Jennings read under the category “Cons” for $1,000.
De Guzman — an attorney from Arlington, Virginia — buzzed in, first uttering “Who is: Constant?”
“Say it again,” Jennings said, giving him a second chance.
Contestant Luigi de Guzman got the chance to correct his wrong answer.ABC“I’m sorry. Who is Constable? Constable,” de Guzman corrected himself.
Jennings deemed the answer correct, and the contestant’s earnings grew to $6,200.
To add to fans’ anger, the host didn’t allow fellow contestant Harriet Wagner — a retired lawyer from Houston, Texas — to change her answer when a similar scenario happened late in the game.
“Here’s a typical early 19th-century landscape by this British painter,” Jennings read the clue about this painting under the category “Cons” for $1,000.ABC
Later in the game, Jennings interrupted another contestant, saying she couldn’t change her answer. ABCThe brainiac responded to a clue about an author, answering “Who is Angela LeGuin,” before changing her response. “Sorry, Ursula LeGuin,” she corrected.
“No, no I’m sorry,” Jennings interrupted. “Luigi picked up that clue, too, by buzzing in and repeating that player’s second, correct, reply.”
“Yes, Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula but I had already begun ruling against you when you began correcting yourself,” he doubled down.
Fans took their frustration to social media.
“Gosh, Jeopardy — why not have a certain amount of time to answer? Harriet answered her revised answer of Ursula at least as quickly as Luigi was allowed to correct his response from Constant to Constable a few minutes earlier,” one Twitter user slammed the show.
Another said the ruling “just isn’t right.”
“#Jeopardy why did Ken Jennings let one contestant (male) change a wrong answer, but ruled against another (female), even though she said the correct answer within the time limit? Tonight’s episode was an unfair runaway because of that ruling on the last answer in double jeopardy,” one critic said.
Angry fans can soon take their viewership to “Celebrity Jeopardy!” with Bialik as host.
But for now, the regular “Jeopardy!” airs on weekdays at 7 p.m. on ABC.
