‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Call out ‘Wickedly’ Vague Clue That Hurt Champ

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, November 18 episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! fans were treated to some magical marketing on Monday night as Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and co. presented a category about Wicked ahead of the movie’s November 22 wide release. But the enchantment faded when the promising current champion was ruled incorrect with a response some fans felt was fair game.

The contestants were one-day champ Paul Clauson, an, as he shared, former tax analyst from Madison Heights, Michigan, with winnings of $15,201 after a strong debut, Jonelle Lonergan, a product manager from Boston, Massachusetts, and Amy Fleenor, an attorney from Cleveland, Ohio.

Clauson was mounting a lead when he selected the $1,000 “Wicked” clue. Director Jon Chu appeared on-screen to read, “When I first saw Wicked before it even hit Broadway I could envision it up on the big screen & now we invite the audience to step inside the magical world of Oz & enjoy this type of 9-letter experience.”

Clauson responded, “What is wonderful?” Ken Jennings shared he was incorrect and Lonergan responded, “immersive?” which was ruled correct as the desired response.

Fans took to the Reddit thread for the episode, where many took issue with the vague nature of the clue, arguing more than one answer fit the prompt and Clauson’s nine-letter answer should have been ruled correct.

“Is it just me or is that absolutely not pinned at all?” one fan wrote. “What makes Paul’s guess of ‘wonderful’ (as in ‘wonderful wizard’) wrong? What would make my at-home guess of ‘cinematic’ wrong?”

“I said the same thing!” another fan wrote.

“Is it possible for something to be poorly pinned or is the concept all or nothing? I ask that because ‘step inside’ refers to immersive but there are probably other nine letter words that mean step inside. Plus, wonderful could easily be pinned to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I think I just answered my own question, pinning by definition should lead to one answer,” wrote a third.

“Would Cinematic have been accepted? I wasn’t entirely sure what they were aiming for,” wrote a fourth.

“Cinematic was my guess at the time too. Only later did I catch the ‘step inside/immersive’ bit,” wrote a fifth. To which one more replied, “But they aren’t literally stepping inside, though. I feel as though we would both be right.”

Despite the $2,000 swing against him, Clauson took charge for the rest of the round, and bolstered by a Daily Double he finished with $8,000, she had $3,200, and Fleenor $0.

In the Double Jeopardy! round, the reigning champ came into his own with a stellar performance, getting a double digit number of clues correct including both remaining Daily Doubles. He sailed into Final Jeopardy with an untouchable lead and a total of $21,200, while Fleenor had a respectable $8,000, and Lonergan $6,800.

The “American Women,” clue was, “In 1900 she told a Mr. Dobson, “Get out of the way. I don’t want to strike you, but I am going to break up this den of vice.”

Lonergan had the sole Final Jeopardy get as the only one to correctly respond “Carrie Nation.” But since Clauson had a runaway, it didn’t matter, and he dropped $101 to finish with $21,099 and be a two-day champ with $36,300.

What did you think of the Wicked category? Do you think Paul Clauson can win a few more games? Let us know in the comments section below!

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