JEOPARDY! fans have accused host Ken Jennings of giving one contestant more legroom than another on Monday’s episode.
Stephen Webb got “three tries” to correct himself on a flubbed guess while newcomer Janette Peterson was instantly shut down later on.
ABCKen Jennings was accused of ruling differently in two similar scenarios[/caption]
ABCStephen Webb responded: ‘Is that the corpse blossom, what’s the corpse blossom, corpse flower?’ and was deemed correct[/caption]
ABCBut Karen responded ‘What’s Cat’s Cradle?’ to a later clue and the host instantly ruled ‘no’[/caption]
Ken, 48, is hosting regular Jeopardy! episodes after Mayim Bialik’s three-week-long High School Reunion Tournament concluded last Thursday.
Many viewers are happy to see the G.O.A.T contestant on the screens again, but his second episode back resulted in fans calling out an inconsistency.
The returning champ faced Nick Lauber, an attorney from Sherman Oaks, California, and Jannette, a graduate student from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Stephen, a data scientist from Longmont, Colorado, won his fifth episode in an impressive Final Jeopardy comeback with a combined $139K.
He had no trouble returning after Mayim’s special – but he did have trouble getting out the correct response on Monday for a clue under “Blossom” for $800.
Ken read: “The U.S. Botanic Garden noted the ‘powerful stink’ of this flower that opened in peak bloom on August 9, 2022.”
Stephen responded: “Is that the corpse blossom, what’s the corpse blossom, corpse flower?”
Ken then decided after the slightly generous number of tries: “Yes the infamous corpse flower is correct, and you retake the lead.”
‘I’M SORRY KAREN’
Later on, a $600 clue was selected under the category “Call Me Cat” (multiple categories in the game were nods to co-host Mayim’s sitcom resume).
Ken read: “This No. 1 hit has haunted fathers since 1974 as they watch time pass too quickly as their sons grow up.”
Karen buzzed in and responded: “What’s Cat’s Cradle?”
“No,” Ken said. Karen then, like Stephen, tried self-correcting and added: “What’s Cats In The Cradle?”
Ken did not allow Karen’s second guess and let Stephen correctly respond afterward with what she said.
The host ruled: “I’m sorry Karen I’d already ruled against you by the time you corrected yourself.”
She raised her eyebrow looking skeptical of the ruling.
According to Jeopardy.com: “Contestants may change their responses as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling.”
So while Ken was technically above the board, and the outcome of the game was not affected, fans on Twitter were furious.
They felt Stephen was given more of a chance to correct himself – even oddly saying “is that” instead of “what is” – than Karen was.
‘KAREN WAS ROBBED’
One fan tweeted: “What’s up with Ken Jennings [being] so quick with the ‘no’ for Karen, but Stephen gets 3 tries for the correct answer?”
Another wrote: “‘Sorry Karen, only Stephen gets to ramble off 3 different answers.’ -Ken’.”
A third posted: “I wouldn’t have blamed Karen a BIT if she would’ve told Ken, ‘Mothe***ker’ I wasn’t done!”
A fourth wrote: “When a contestant gets a response slightly wrong, sometimes Ken says a quick no, and sometimes he gives the contestant time to amend their response. Karen got the former.”
And a fifth roared: “That was crappy. He let Steven answer 50x.” another person simply posted: “Karen got robbed #catsinthecradle.”
A seventh even penned: “This is NOT the first time. Somehow Ken gives the guys time to fix their flubs yet the women are cut off and told that’s incorrect. #Jeopardy bias!”
PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT?
Back in September, Ken came under fire for allowing a contestant to change his answer, but denied a second contestant from doing the same in a similar scenario.
Ken seemed to breeze by a controversial self-correction by Luigi de Guzman, then did not let newcomer Harriet Wagner, who lost by a hair, do so later on.
Luigi was first to answer under the “Cons” category – A painting was shown on the screen as Ken read: “Here’s a typical 19th-century landscape by this British painter.”
“Who is Constant?” Luigi answered.
Ken then prompted him to repeat himself – the host replied: “Say it again.”
“Sorry, who is Constable?” the player then replied, and his answer was accepted.
Later in the show, Harriet had a similar flub when referencing a late science fiction author with her answer “Who is Angela LeGuin — sorry, Ursula LeGuin” – Ken interrupted and ruled her answer incorrect.
“No,” he said. “Yes, Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula but I had already begun ruling against you when you began correcting yourself.”
The one-two gut-punch left 5-time champ Luigi winning by $700 and hundreds in an uproar, declaring “gender bias” per PEOPLE.
Ken is hosting the game show until April 28 at which point Mayim, 47, will return to finish out the season which ends in August.
ABCOne fan tweeted: ‘What’s up with Ken Jennings [being] so quick with the ‘no’ for Karen, but Stephen gets 3 tries for the correct answer?’[/caption]
