‘Jeopardy!’ Host Ken Jennings Sparks Backlash Over Controversial Response

During last Wednesday’s episode of the hit game show Jeopardy!, controversy struck yet again with host Ken Jennings feeling the wrath of online fans. With the “Final Jeopardy!” round featuring the category “College towns”, it was Illinois native Rishabh against environmental attorney Jay Eversman and associate professor Rachel Cassidy. Jennings’ question read, “Two schools in the Southeastern Conference are located in cities with this same name but in different states,” with both Rishabh and Rachel answering “What is Columbia?” and coming away correctly. Rishabh bravely wagered $9,801, leaving him with $20,201 and a two-day win.

However, controversy arose because of the written form of Rishabh’s answer, which, when simply reading from the board, appeared to say ‘Cdumlaq’. A confusing jumble of letters was caused by the rushed attempt to write his answer down, with perhaps no doubt that Rishabh at least knew the answer in his head. However, the rules of the game state that the contestants must write down their answers, and Rishabh is fortunate that Jennings accepted his scribble compared to Rachel’s clear and obvious penmanship.

Rishabh Faced No Punishment for His Handwriting

This led to many viewers voicing their complaints online, furious that Rishabh walked away without punishment for his poor handwriting and spelling. One viewer said, “I can read maybe 2 of these letters, Ken Jennings. That poor lady got ROBBED!”, whilst another chimed in, “My ruling was that his response was illegible. Apparently my rulings have very little influence.” One user tried to piece together exactly what might have happened, saying, “I think him saying ‘I wrote Columbia’ before the answer was revealed affected Ken’s decision honestly. Because once he said that you could kind of see what he was writing, but had Ken had to make it out on his own? I don’t know if it would have counted.” This call led some to suggest that the pen-and-board style of answering should be updated for a modern audience, with one viewer saying, “It’s beyond time for contestants to have a keyboard for FJ.”

It’s almost inconceivable that a series could have been on air for 60 years in the current media climate of swift cancelations. Well, that is the truth of Jeopardy!, with the iconic game show having first debuted in March 1964 to a daytime NBC audience. Of course, the series has had several iterations since, with a nighttime syndication and revival series taking viewers right through to 1979. However, the modern version of the series that generations of viewers have come to know and love began in September 1984, making last month the 40th anniversary of the Jeopardy! we know today. Jeopardy! fans were furious about an answer in the most recent episode. Jeopardy! airs on ABC weekdays at 7pm and on weekends at 7pm.