Viewers of Jeopardy! were outraged by host Ken Jennings’ “disgusting” statement during Wednesday night’s episode after he refused to accept an answer because it was in the plural.
The 50-year-old host stirred up controversy during the first competition when he asked contestants Dana Keane, Isaac Hirsch and returning champion Kelly Proulx a question from the “Waterfalls” category.
For $2,000, Ken said, “This wedding outfit is named after a waterfall in Yosemite, with a thin strip of water that flutters through the air like a sheer sheet.”
Kelly came in and asked, “What is Bridalveil Falls?”
Ken refused to accept her answer because she added an ‘s’ to the word ‘fall’.
Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings angered viewers with his “brutal” statement on Wednesday
The presenter, 50, caused controversy in the first competition when he asked the contestants a question from the ‘Waterfalls’ category
As she was being robbed of $2,000 from her money pot, he said, “No, sorry. It’s actually Bridalveil Fall, so we couldn’t include that. It’s, ‘What’s a Bridalveil?’”
Ken’s harsh judgment left reigning champion Kelly in last place at the end of the first round with $3,600, while Dana won slightly more with $3,900 and Isaac finished in first place with $4,000.
Unfortunately for Kelly, she was unable to win Final Jeopardy! and was forced to leave the competition with $7,000.
Isaac meanwhile won $19,185 and will compete in Thursday’s episode.
Frustrated viewers took to social media en masse to criticize Ken and the show for their “pedantic” statement.
“Ready to take on the Jeopardy judges individually, who misjudged ‘Bridalveil Falls’ because of the extra “s” that was irrelevant to the clue,” one irate viewer on X wrote. “Being so pedantic is disgusting and negatively impacts the game.”
On Reddit, another added: ‘I normally have a lot of respect for judges, but I can f**k the judges for this ruling.
“There is nothing that ties the clue to ‘falling,’ so she had the required information correct. That was absolutely disgusting.”
Contestant Kelly was deducted $2,000 for adding an ‘s’ to her answer
Frustrated viewers took to social media en masse to criticize Ken and the show for their “pedantic” statement
A third confused fan said: ‘If the clue only required you to say “Bridalveil” why does it matter if Kelly said “fall” or “falls” afterwards? People call it “Bridalveil Falls” all the time, including the National Park Service!’
“It was extremely pedantic to me to disagree with her,” shouted a fourth.
A fifth added: ‘Gosh, that’s a brutal decision based on the last clue.’
Another called the statements “random as hell.”
Ken’s divisive statement comes just two days after he accepted a mispronounced answer that fans called “ruined the whole game.”
The controversial moment occurred when Ken gave the players a tip from the anatomy category.
He read the directions aloud and said, “This hollow, tubular structure, also called the larynx, contains both true and false vocal cords.”
Then a player called and asked, “What is the lar-nyx?” The presenter accepted this answer, even though the pronunciation was incorrect.