‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to Ken Jennings’ Harsh Ruling That Cost Contestant

Martin Holmes May 1, 2024, 7:33 am

Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings caught some flak from viewers on Tuesday night (April 30) after making a harsh ruling that cost one contestant $800 in the middle of a tense game.

Tuesday’s episode saw reigning champion Amy Hummel, an ER doctor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taking on Bryan Carrasco, a mortgage loan originator from Columbia, Missouri, and Laura Bligh, a webmaster from Vienna, Virginia.

Hummel, who had already amassed a four-day total of $85,794, was looking for her fifth win but found stiff competition from Carrasco and Bligh. After the first round, Hummel and Bligh were tied on $4,800, while Carrasco followed closely behind with $4,200.

Things got dicey in the Double Jeopardy! round. Carrasco’s score dropped to $0 after he confused “Rhone” and “Rhine” during a Daily Double. Meanwhile, Hummel and Bligh stayed neck and neck, both answering multiple clues correctly.

However, the game took a turn when Bligh buzzed in to answer the $800 clue under the poetry-focused “Blank Verse” category. She was faced with the clue, “Blake: ‘Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the [blank] of the night.'”

Bligh responded with “What is a forest?” before adding an “S.” Unfortunately, Jennings had already cut her off and ruled her incorrect before she could get the “S” out.

This allowed Hummel to swoop in and nab the $800 by correctly answering, “Forests.”

Laura Bligh on Jeopardy!

Jennings explained that he “thought” but couldn’t be 100% sure that Bligh added the “S” after he’d already interjected and made his ruling.

“Yes, it’s plural; I think, Laura, you added the “S” after I had already ruled against you. I heard “forest” first,” he said.

“This was not Ken’s best day,” one viewer wrote on the Jeopardy! Reddit forum. “He ruled against Laura just as she was adding the S to “forests burning bright.” He said, “I think I ruled against you before you added the S.” OK, so couldn’t the judges have stopped taping to verify that? I rewound my DVR and she clearly pronounced the S as he said “No.” That $1,600 swing would’ve given Amy the lead after DJ.”

“The “you can change your response until the host rules against you” rule has always been dumb,” added another. “The rule, as with every other quiz show I’m aware of, should be to take the first completed response as determined by the judges. The speed with which the host responds should be irrelevant.”

Another commenter said, “I’m guessing they either did stop tape, or checked it while the rest of the round played out and determined that the original ruling was correct.”

Bligh herself responded to the comments, writing, “I did think I added the Sssss in time, but on Jeopardy they measure in the hundredths of seconds. Still, I am comforted that at least one viewer was on my side.”

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Despite this setback, Bligh was able to match Hummel heading into Final Jeopardy, where both stood at $7,600. Carrasco trailed with $3,200.

However, it didn’t matter, as Bligh couldn’t answer the final clue (“Maybe because he was too Baroque, Bernini was rejected as a name for a member of this group created in 1983”), whereas Hummel and Carrasco both answered correctly (“Who are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”).

With her $7,600 wager, Hummel won the episode with $15,200, marking her fifth straight victory and guaranteeing her spot in the next Tournament of Champions. She now stands at a five-day total of $100,994.

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