‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Blast ‘Weird’ Misheard Lyrics Category

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The final game of Week 2 of Jeopardy!‘s Second Chance tournament took place on Monday, January 1, which included one frustrating category that had all three contestants stumped.

Former Season 39 players Christopher Pennant, a sports journalist and announcer from Chicago, Illinois; Xanni Brown, a post-doc researcher from Cincinnati, Ohio; and Greg Czaja, a cardiologist from San Diego, California, returned to the Alex Trebek Stage with the hopes of making it into the upcoming Champions Wildcard competition.

Things started smoothly in the Jeopardy! round, with each contestant answering clues correctly in categories such as Haunting Literature, Native Americans, Movies By Google Search, People, It’s An Ex-Car For A Reason, and Crossword Clues “C.”

But it was the Double Jeopardy! round where things turned a little tricky, especially under the Misheard Lyrics category, which required the players to name a song (or artist) based on misinterpreted song lyrics.

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For example, the clue that caused the most difficulty was under the $800 tile, which read, “Many have sung along to the radio, ‘I left my brains down in’ here.”

The three players looked blank before host Ken Jennings had to reveal the answer as “I blessed the rains,'” referring to the lyric from Toto’s “Africa.”

“Never heard that one,” Pennant said as his fellow contestants and the studio audience laughed.

Other misheard lyrics that confused the players were Neil Diamond’s “Forever In Blue Jeans” (Misheard lyric: “The Reverend Blue Jeans”) and Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning.” (Misheard lyric: “Just brush my teeth before you leave me, baby.”)

“You guys are too good at hearing lyrics… you don’t know the misheard ones,” Jennings quipped.

This isn’t the first time Jeopardy! has done the Misheard Lyrics category, but many fans hope it will be the last.

“Misheard lyrics category should never be repeated,” wrote one viewer on X (formerly Twitter), while another added, “These misheard lyrics suck.”

Misheard lyrics category should never be repeated #Jeopardy

— Karen (@runyourplate) January 2, 2024

These misheard lyrics suck. #Jeopardy

— Darrin Dyle (@DarrinDyle) January 2, 2024

Jimi Hendrix misheard lyrics: “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” Song: Purple Haze
#jeopardy

— Pat (@TrishTheMiddle) January 2, 2024

“Weird game. Seemed like a lot of triple stumpers, especially the misheard lyrics,” said one commenter on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum.

“I couldn’t stand the misheard lyrics category, and they’ve done it a few times,” added another. “I don’t mind the concept, but too many questions give no information but a misheard lyric that most people probably aren’t familiar with.”

The same user suggested how the category could be improved, writing, “If it gave us a correct lyric that came before or after the misheard one or even the artist, I could get on board, but 3 out of 5 today included no information other than the misheard lyric itself and in one case, the year the song came out.”

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Others agreed, with one person writing, “This is my issue with it! I could have figured some of these out if they had just given me a LITTLE more context. I don’t know why they didn’t provide more info.”

That said, there are some fans of the category, with one Reddit user stating, “I loved that category! I got 4/5,” and another adding, “The misheard lyric category most definitely helped me out with my radio show planning. I’m always looking for new ones. Incidentally, Africa is one of my favorite misheard lyrics songs ever.”

After all was said and done, Brown won the episode and cemented her spot in the Champions Wildcard competition, where she will face off against Week 1 Second Chance winner Juveria Zaheer and returning winners from Season 39.

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