KEN Jennings has dished out an unsavory joke that may not rank as his Greatest Of All Time on Thursday’s nail-biter Jeopardy! episode.
The G.O.A.T champion-turned-host turned heads by suggesting a contestant was conceived in an Ikea showroom.
ABCJeopardy! contestant Nik Berry- who won by a razor-thin margin- shared he was named Niklas after an Ikea shelf[/caption]
ABCKen Jennings joked: ‘I’m sure every kid would like to know where in the Ikea showroom he was conceived’[/caption]
GettyFans reacted that the joke ‘didn’t make sense,’ ‘wasn’t family friendly,’ and ‘go to your room!’[/caption]
David Bederman, an attorney from Los Angeles, California (and part-time DJ), came in with a promising two-day total of $52,802.
He faced Nik, a social studies teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, and Toula Ballas, a publishing consultant from New York City.
During the interview segment, Ken, 49, asked Nik about the unusual spelling of his first name.
Nik shared: “My parents wanted an alternate spelling of Nicholas, so they went with ‘Niklas.’
“Because when they were shopping at Ikea before my birth, and they saw a shelf called the ‘Niklas.’”
Ken burst out laughing at the out-of-the-box origin story, and the contestant continued to defend he “got off better than his brother, who they were going to name ‘Narvic’.”
Ken took a moment and then ad-libbed: “I’m sure every kid would like to know where in the Ikea showroom he was conceived.”
The joke about how Nik was conceived did not get much in the way of laughter.
The host took a deep breath and moved on to the next contestant, at which all three players and the audience chuckled, seemingly in relief.
FANS REACT TO ‘THAT IKEA JOKE’
One fan reacted on Reddit: “The best moment of the game was Ken’s pause as he considered whether or not to really go through with the IKEA joke.”
Another wrote: “He might have been considering two things: should he make that joke on a family show (probably not) and does the joke make any sense (it really doesn’t).”
A third tweeted: “‘WHERE IN THE IKEA SHOWROOM HE WAS CONCEIVED’?!?!? @KenJennings go to your room!”
‘REALLY CLOSE GAME!’
David led at every break and was correct on both Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy!, but played it safe -something execs have begged contestants not to do– betting $2,000 on both of them.
David led going into Final Jeopardy with $14,800 while Nik had $10,200 and Toula had $4,800.
Final Jeopardy Under 19TH CENTURY POEMS read: “The author of this unfinished epic poem was unsure if he wanted the title character to ‘end in hell—or in an unhappy marriage.’”
Only Toula was correct with “Don Juan” – a poem by Lord Byron- and stunned Ken as she nearly doubled up with $9590.
Nik wisely wagered just $599, so even though he was incorrect, he shut out Toula and came away with $9601.
David, meanwhile, dropped $5001 to end up with $9,199- making Nik the new winner by just a few hundred dollars.
Fans went wild over the extremely close end scores in the Reddit internet thread.
One person wrote: “Alligator blood from Nik & Toula, and a great close game with three fun players. Some tough questions.”
Another wrote: “Really close game today! I thought Final Jeopardy was a little on the harder side today, but maybe that’s just me. Just not a lot of clues to go off there.”
“Sucks that David lost,” lamented a third as the contestant was putting up big numbers.
David sweetly wrote in the Reddit thread: “Nik and Toula are extremely smart and lovely people, so I would be very foolish to underestimate them.”
“And I may have to get my head tilt and hand thing under control!”
Recently, Ken surprised fans by joking he was considering joining the adult X-rated subscription website OnlyFans.
He tweeted in response to an interview from The U.S. Sun with contestant Anji Nyquist who revealed she got thirsty messages about being the “hottest contestant ever.”
One writeup made it look like Ken was the contestant, not Anji, leading to the host tweeting: “Let me stress I haven’t made my decision yet.”
WHAT IS: THE JEOPARDY! SCHEDULE?
Mayim Bialik, 47, and winningest contestant Ken were chosen as the co-successors to the late Alex Trebek in 2022 after his tragic passing at age 80.
Ken is hosting episodes airing until next Friday- at which point Jeopardy! will take its annual summer hiatus.
It’s no secret that many fans and contestants prefer Ken and want him to score the hosting gig alone.
That said, Mayim exited her most recent hosting slate early to support the WGA writers’ strike.
Ken has been criticized on social media as a so-called scab by fans and even celebrities for returning to the set.
Some fans are also fearing for Season 40 of Jeopardy! given the strike has expanded to SAG members.
The beloved game show has not spoken out on how the strike will affect next season, set to air in early September, with all of its writers currently on strike and no clues written past July 28’s season finale.
ABCAll three contestants were separated by just $400, but Nik bet small and won out[/caption]
ABCViewers were also stunned by the insanely close ending[/caption]
