Jordan Karlesson
Jeopardy! fans are questioning the game show over its rule on illegible handwriting in the Final Jeopardy! round after judges allegedly applied the rule inconsistently.
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Some viewers complain that the judges inexplicably allowed a guess by contestant Erica Weiner-Amachi on Monday night’s episode that was at least as messily written as a rejected guess by contestant Sadie Goldberger on the June 22 episode.
Judge the debate for yourself:
#jeopardy this didn’t count, but then this one did?? pic.twitter.com/xsr2RUBLv3
— Herschel Cuyler (@herschelcuyler_) July 18, 2022
According to one viewer, @SkeeterBombay: “Apparently according to #Jeopardy producers, one of theses says ‘Waiting for Godot’ while the other does NOT say ‘Harriet Tubman.’ #MakeItMakeSense.”
Per the spelling rule: “Written responses to the Final Jeopardy! clue do not have to be spelled correctly, but they must be phonetically correct and not add or subtract any extraneous sounds or syllables,” the Jeopardy! website says.
The latest kerfuffle surrounding the trivia show comes amid another fracas over Monday night’s episode. Some fans apparently didn’t like what they consider to be an off-color joke that host and Alex Trebek co-successor Ken Jennings recently made, according to the New York Post.
On Monday night, which marked former Jeopardy! champ Jennings’ return to the game show, he cracked a joke after reading an answer during a round of Double Jeopardy!
“Since no one had done this for 40 years, God told Joshua to get a knife & do this to male Israelites,” Jennings read.
Weiner-Amanchi buzzed in with a guess, saying, “What is circumcise?”
After that, Jennings quipped, “That is correct. A painful $2,000 for you!”
Other Jeopardy! viewers found the joke to be harmless and/or humorous.
For instance, Twitter user @charlespoet1 wrote: “@Jeopardy @KenJennings ‘A painful $2,000 for you.’ Thank you. Welcome back. You were missed.”
