‘Jeopardy!’: Ken Jennings Teases Contestants After ‘Stupid’ Category Stumps Them

Meredith Jacobs October 23, 2023, 7:30 pm

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the October 23 episode of Jeopardy!]

What some might have thought would be an easy category was anything but for the three contestants as the Champions Wildcard competition continued on Jeopardy!, with players from Seasons 37 and 38 who won in their initial appearances but not enough games to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. (The winner will earn a spot in the ToC.)

During the Jeopardy! round, Leah Wiegand (a stay-at-home mom from Austin, Texas), Pasquale Palumbo (a financial advisor from Hawthorne, New York), and Isaac Applebaum (a corporate development analyst from Mountain View, California) were faced with the category “Stupid Proverbs.” While Isaac got the $200 clue correct (“‘Fight’ this ‘with fire,'” “fire”), things took a turn starting with the $400 one.

“An American proverb says, ‘Money begets’ this” read the clue. Leah guessed “wealth” and was wrong, as was Pasquale with “problems.” Host Ken Jennings chimed in with “True, but not right, so no,” getting some laughs. (Isaac didn’t ring in.) “It’s even stupider than wealth or more problems,” he added. The correct answer was “money.”

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Then, after Isaac got the $600 clue correct (“You’ll find things are in order with ‘a place for’ this ‘and everything in its place,'” “everything”), the contestants ran into trouble with the $800 one: “‘Nothing’ does this ‘like success.'” And that’s when Jennings had the most fun with them. Pasquale guessed “breed success,” and Isaac and Leah didn’t attempt it. “I think you three are not stupid enough for this category,” Jennings suggested before telling them the correct answer (“succeeds”).

Isaac then got the $1000 clue (“We’re due for this proverb: ‘Give credit where credit is’ this”) correct (“due”).

The Double Jeopardy! round then included a category “Smart Answers,” and before reading it out, Jennings quipped, “oh, this is better for you,” getting laughs. The three contestants did get all five right in that category (three for Pasquale, one for Leah, one for Isaac).

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