Jeopardy! fans fume over ‘weak’ and ‘unfactual’ final clue & blame Ken Jennings’ pronunciation for player’s brutal loss

JEOPARDY! Fans are furious about Thursday’s last hint, which they say is purely subjective and unsupported by any evidence prior to the returning champion’s crushing defeat.

While some viewers defended host Ken Jennings following the contentious moment, others were quick to criticize his pronunciation of the proper Final Jeopardy! response.

Returning champion Stevie Ruiz was aiming to stretch his two-day winning run into three days on today’s episode of the popular game show in order to earn a coveted position in the Tournament of Champions.

The Montauk, New York-based assistant front office manager has already won a whopping $35,987.

He was competing against Dave Bond, a retired grant writer from West Henrietta, New York, and Lisa DiLeo, a business support analyst from Garwood, New Jersey.

Ken, the 50-year-old host, gave away the first round of Jeopardy clues! round: EPONYMS // THE MIDDLE AGES // 4-WORD PHRASES // IN THE TOOLBOX AND ON THE MOVIE MAP // PLAYING THINGS.

Dave was audacious from the start and bet everything on a real Daily Double, which was the first of the game.

As Ken reads under the category Play Things, one of the play’s two title characters acknowledges in an interview that he let Americans down and that his political career is ended.

Dave lost to zero after he failed to correctly answer the question, “What is Frost/Nixon?” after wagering his entire $2,400 profits.

Lisa’s terrible luck continued when she discovered the second Daily Double in the Entertainment Hyphenates category of the Double Jeopardy! round.

According to Ken, one of the titles in this Valve video game shooter, Global Offensive, alludes to a form of military vengeance.

Lisa lost $1,200 after misidentifying what counter-strike was.

Fans criticized Stevie during this stage of the game for not hunting more for the Daily Doubles, a tactic that might have cost the defending champion the game in the end.

When Dave discovered the third and last Daily Double, which significantly increased his prize pool, this belief was further cemented.

Good night, Saigon, and good morning, Ken read under Geographic Name Changes following the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Dave’s response, “What is Ho Chi Minh City?” was accurate. – adding $7,000 to his total.

Dave’s daring gamble paid off, as he led with $25,200 going into Final Jeopardy!.

By the final round, Lisa had $2,400 and Stevie was in second place, far behind with $12,000.

As the players placed their bets, Ken disclosed that the category was Brand Names.

CRAN YOU NOT?

The clue said that they had a distinct smell, akin to slightly earthy soap with strong, leather-like mud undertones.

Everyone was wrong in another triple stumper, and nobody took notes. Crayola crayons: what are they?

Dave won the game with a final total of $25,000 after only placing a $200 wager.

Lisa finished with $2,000, and Stevie came in second with $7,201.

The last clue infuriated the fans.

How was the last clue accepted? It was a jumble of words and wholly biased and opinionated. One online user stated, “There’s no way anyone would have known that. I’d be livid if I was a contestant.”

Another stated that they were evaluating the authors, adding: Instead of relying just on the host to provide the description that was referenced in the FJ hint, they must cite the source.

The quote, as worded, may be from anyplace discussing anything.

A third proposed: FJ is quite feeble. Just someone else’s account of a subjective sensory experience, with no supporting facts? Oh no.

According to a critic, “without the brand, I would not have made the connection, and even then I was wondering whether the company made a different product I wasn’t aware of.”

Ken’s pronunciation of crayon, which sounds like cran, was noted by another.

Ken’s way of pronouncing words truly confuses me, however I’m not sure if it would have affected the game’s outcome at all. His crayon, for instance, rhymes with “can,” which is untrue.

Another person concurred, stating: I’ve never heard them referred to as crans.

Others joined him in defending the native of Washington state: I thought that was a pronunciation issue between Utah and Seattle.

According to a supporter, crayons are one of those words with wildly varied regional pronunciations, much like caramel and pecans.

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