Jeopardy! Fans Are Fed Up With The Show Making One Crucial Mistake Lately
Jeopardy! seems to be mixing up the clues lately, putting easy clues under high dollar amounts and hard clues under low dollar amounts.
Jeopardy! fans can be a critical bunch, especially when they feel like the show is lacking in any respect. Lately, fans have been feeling like the clue writers for the Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik-hosted quiz show are putting difficult questions behind low dollar amounts and easy questions in the higher slots. A Reddit thread on the Jeopardy! subreddit specifically pointed out this phenomenon, with numerous fans weighing in on the issue.
One of the most egregious examples that a Reddit user pointed out is when a $2,000 clue highlighted Nebraska on a US state map and asked the contestants to name the state, leading another Reddit user to accuse it of being a “Kid’s Jeopardy!” level question. The OP of the thread pointed out that one of the $800 clues asked the contestants to name a pink bird, with the answer, of course, being ‘flamingo.’ While the quiz show does have easy questions on occasion, those clues usually aren’t worth that much money.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Reddit users in the Jeopardy! thread felt like there are some needlessly difficult clues hidden behind low-dollar values. For instance, they point out the recent $400 Daily Double clue that read, “This artist the younger was working on yet another portrait of Henry VIII when he died in 1543.” The answer to the question was Hans Holbein, which is something not many people would probably get right.
Of course, this clue is now infamous since Jeopardy! contestant Karen Morris bet $10,000 on the Daily Double despite having a runaway win, causing her to lose the whole game. While Morris may have thought that the $400 clue would have been easier, it was still noted to be a huge flub on her part to go overboard with the bid. She took it in good spirits, but it’s clear she probably thought a $400 question would have been a little easier than it ended up being.
The Jeopardy! Reddit community isn’t the only group of fans incensed by recent episodes of the show, as Youtube commentators also felt annoyed by a recent appearance by WWE stars on an episode. One category had stars like Rey Mysterio, Triple H, and Alexa Bliss asking the contestants questions about Lucha Libre, Andre the Giant, and other wrestling-related clues. YouTube commentators dismissed the segment as paid promotion and felt like a collaboration between WWE and Jeopardy! wasn’t a natural fit.
Regardless of their issues with the show, fans of Jeopardy! are still likely going to continue to tune in. The show has been on its heels a bit after losing Alex Trebek in 2020. The first hurdle it had to face was replacing the beloved host.
After months of trial and error, Jeopardy! eventually landed on long-time winner and record-holder Ken Jennings as co-host with The Big Bang Theory star and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik. The two have been co-hosting the show together for a while now, with mixed reviews from fans on their abilities. Fans are sure to continue to take umbrage with certain aspects of the show again in the future, but until then, you can catch new episodes on weekdays.
