'Jeopardy!' fans in uproar after host Ken Jennings allows one contestant correction but denies another
“Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings sparked controversy by allowing reigning champion Luigi de Guzman to correct his answer during Wednesday night’s episode.
In the “Cons” category, where every answer had to start with “cons,” de Guzman was first to answer a question about a painting. The clue was: "Here's a typical 19th-century landscape by this British painter."
De Guzman initially answered, "Who is Constant?," to which Jennings replied, “Say it again." De Guzman answered again, "Sorry, who is Constable?," which Jennings accepted.
Later in the show, another contestant, Harriet Wagner, similarly stumbled through a question at first, but was not given the same grace as De Guzman. As Wagner was answering a clue about a late science fiction author, she said, “Who is Angela LeGuin — sorry, Ursula LeGuin.” Jennings did not accept the correction and said, “Yes, Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula, but I had already begun ruling against you when you began correcting yourself.”
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While de Guzman won for the fourth time in a row, social media users were swift to call out Jennings for his ruling against Wagner, which some deemed unfair.
#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
— Mike Harrington (@mikewat) September 15, 2022
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After Luigi was allowed a correction, Harriet would have a right to be pissed. She could have been in theoretical striking distance. #Jeopardy
— Joe10E (@e_joe10) September 14, 2022
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“Contestants may change their responses as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling.”
[a] “Say again” isn’t a ruling; Luigi’s correction to “Constable” is allowable
[b] Ken did start to rule before Harriet corrected to “Ursula”More from NextShark: 'Valorant' introduces Manila-born Agent Neon
Both calls correct.#Jeopardy
— Matt Carberry (@mfc248) September 14, 2022
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 😊
— Ann Swann (@ann_swann) September 14, 2022
Since the debate online, de Guzman has weighed in with his own string of tweets on the matter. He says he owes Wagner an apology and can understand why fans were upset by Jenning’s call.
“If I’d have been Ken, I’d have either cut both of us off, or hesitated both times,” wrote de Guzman. “But that wasn’t the side of the stage I was on on the day, and it took a great deal of separation in time and space for me to watch it and see it.”
Between myself, @Harriet43342263, and Winston, I think we all played a tight game. To use a sporting analogy, we all played hard right to the whistle.
— Luigi, Jeopardy Champion (@ouij) September 15, 2022
Feature Image via Jeopardy!