‘Jeopardy!’ host, Ken Jennings, is being accused of misleading or giving additional clues to contestants, as recently as July 6th.
Kennings caught flack on social media in February, while reading a question from the category “Literary Title Characters.” The clue read: “Lord Henry tells him, ‘To get back my youth (I’d) do anything… except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable’; Wilde!”
A contestant named Matthew buzzed in, having previously mentioned on-air that his favorite author is Oscar Wilde. As Matthew deliberated, Jennings said, “he’s your favorite writer!” Matthew incorrectly guessed, “what is Ernest?”, missing the question, but fans still thought the comment was too much assistance.
On July 6th, a returning champion named Alex mentioned that he was a recently medical school graduate. Luckily, Alex hit a Daily Double on a $1400 question in the category, “Stitch Incoming”, asking questions about medicine. He was in the lead by more than $2000, when Jennings said,
“How confident are you in the medical category, Alex?” Alex, afterwards, bet $12,000 of his $15,000 total, with Jennings responding, “Wow! Okay, well, we know you graduated, let’s see if it pays off.”
The question? “Joba Chamberlain used the scar from below the elbow surgery named for his fellow pitcher as part of a smiley face tattoo.”
Alex missed the question, ultimately resulting in his loss.
On both occasions, fans were quick to rebuff Jennings’ intervention.
Sources:
Ken Jennings’ ‘Inappropriate’ Comment Might’ve Caused A Contestant To Lose (msn.com)
