‘Jeopardy!’: Did You Find That Final Jeopardy Too Easy?

Meredith Jacobs April 10, 2023, 7:30 pm

Final Jeopardy of April 10 Game — Jeopardy! Inc.

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the April 10 episode of Jeopardy!]

After four of the five days of the previous week consisted of no one getting the Final Jeopardy correct (and only one person on the fifth), the April 10 episode of Jeopardy! featured what many fans called a very “easy” end to the game.

Physics teacher P.J. Brennan and writer Robbie Ramirez came on to compete against returning champ Rachel Clark, a director of client strategy (who won $6,500 on April 7). Going into Final Jeopardy, Robbie led with $22,400, P.J. had $11,400, and Rachel was in third with $10,200. And that was the order in which they ended the game, with Robbi the new champ.

But as viewers noted, this Final Jeopardy was certainly nowhere near as difficult as recent ones. The category was Famous Names, and host Ken Jennings, upon unveiling that, said, “that doesn’t help a whole lot. But we’ll be back with the clue. Everything will become clearer in a moment.”

It certainly did. The clue read: “In 1966, the year of his death, he shared plans for an experimental prototype community in Florida.” The answer was “Who was Walt Disney?” and all three got it correct. Robbi ended the game with $23,800, P.J. with $22,000, and Rachel with $11,401.

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But was that too easy? According to those on Reddit and Twitter (below), yes. In fact, one user was confused why it wasn’t much earlier in the game, writing, “that clue felt like it should have been on the $200 space in the Jeopardy round, not a FJ answer.” Another called it “literally the easiest Final Jeopardy ever,” with someone remarking, “even my 5 year old cousin knew the finale.”

In fact, one user who was in the contestant waiting room watching revealed (with another confirming), “there were AUDIBLE groans … for that FJ. The Venn diagram of Jeopardy contestants and nerds who know about Disney utopias is a single circle.”

A few people suggested that it was a response to the aforementioned ones that stumped players. “I wonder if there was some thought by the writers after a dismal tape day/’week’ as far as FJs go to use some easier clues for games the next tape day,” one user suggested, while another suggested it was “a director’s response to all the triple stumpers last week.”

After the recent Final Jeopardy clues, a user on Reddit suggested that the show needs to find “a good middle ground” when it comes to the last clues.

As soon as I saw Florida and “experimental prototype community”, I knew right away it was Walt Disney. Easy Final Jeopardy ever. #Jeopardy

— Jeff Veloso (@jveloso100) April 10, 2023

After four Triple Stumpers in Final #Jeopardy last, week, this is a welcome change of pace, and it seems the players agree — all three had finished writing well before the music ended.

— Matt Carberry (@mfc248) April 10, 2023