Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings called out for ‘painful’ clue as frustrated fans ask why writers ‘didn’t fact-check it?’

JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings has been called out by viewers for giving a clue that wasn’t seemingly fact-checked prior to the show.

Contestants Zoe Strassfield, Matt Brooks, and Cat Pisacano were met with a clue in the Rhyme Time category during Monday night’s Jeopardy! airing.

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Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings gives a clue in the Rhyme Time category during Monday’s new episodeCredit: ABC

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Contestant Cat Pisacano chooses the $400 clue, looking for a synonymous answer to ‘a kayak inspection’Credit: ABC

All three contestants are stumped on the Rhyme Time clue as Ken tells them the answer is ‘a canoe review’Credit: ABC
The category was looking for a synonymous answer consisting of two rhyming words.

All three players failed to buzz on the $800 clue, which was, “A kayak inspection.”

Ken, 50, noted that the contestants had all been “stumped” as he revealed the answer, “A canoe review.”

After the episode aired, some viewers thought the players had been led astray after noting that kayaks were different than canoes.

“Kayaks aren’t canoes. That was a painful clue,” one person wrote on a Jeopardy!-themed online thread.

“Yea, I thought kayaks were kayaks!” a second agreed.

“Kayaks and canoes are not synonymous. As an avid boater that one really stuck in my craw,” a third raged.

“I never understand how mistakes like this that are so easy to fact check get through,” a fourth added.

“Anyone who’s used both knows how absolutely different they are,” another agreed. “I was displeased with this clue.”

Others noted that while kayaks and canoes may be “related,” they still shouldn’t have been recognized as the same thing in the clue.

ALL WRONG?

Viewers often show their frustration over clues and answers given on the long-running game show, which happened again last week.

During Double Jeopardy! on June 25, Drew Basile, a former Survivor contestant, picked the category “Kingdom.”

Jeopardy! fans accuse show of ‘unambiguously wrong’ clue and are ‘still annoyed about it’
“The United Kingdom was created by uniting these two kingdoms,” the $400 question read.

“What is England and Scotland?” Drew responded, which was accepted as a correct answer.

The $400 win put Drew further in the lead ahead of his opponents Staci Garner and Alan Elverum.

Jeopardy! Universe

Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:

Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.

Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.

Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.

Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.

Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.

Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.

Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.

Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, host and airdate TBD

Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.

Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.

On Reddit, fans discussed Drew’s answer and claimed it was technically wrong.

“The clue was ‘The United Kingdom was created by uniting these 2 kingdoms.’ Technically, the correct response should have been Great Britain and Ireland,” one person wrote.

“The United Kingdom was formed nearly 100 years later in 1801 when Great Britain united with the Kingdom of Ireland,” said a second.

“This is correct and I’m still annoyed about it. It didn’t affect the outcome of the game but it was unambiguously the wrong answer,” another wrote.

Others noted how it was an “incorrect question” and that Ireland should have been somewhere in the clue.

“Good thing the incorrect $400 Kingdoms clue didn’t affect the game. The kingdoms of England and Scotland were joined into the Kingdom of Great Britain nearly a century before the United Kingdom was formed,” someone else added.

Drew’s winning streak ended on June 28, following his takeover from Adriana Harmeyer, who had secured 15 consecutive wins throughout June.

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Host Ken Jennings looking confused while on set during a recent episode of Jeopardy!Credit: NBC

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Jeopardy! contestants during an episode last week that had some viewers upset over an inaccurate clueCredit: NBC

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Drew Basile gives a correct answer to a $400 clue that puts him further into the leadCredit: NBC