‘Jeopardy!’ Champ Reveals Ken Jennings Criticized ‘Hard’ Final Jeopardy Clue After Win

Darian Lusk December 2, 2024, 7:30 pm

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Monday, December 2 episode of Jeopardy!]

Jeopardy! is gearing up for its 2025 postseason with (mercifully shorter!) past-player contests and the coveted Tournament of Champions. With annual tournaments fast approaching, Monday’s episode brought an impressive new champ in Evan Jones—though fans, and apparently host Ken Jennings, weren’t impressed with the game’s Final Jeopardy clue.

The champ going in was Susan Beachy, a news researcher from Queens, New York, who won the previous match for a one-day total of $9,300. She faced Jones, a software designer from Seattle, Washington, and Mike Ross, a teacher from Kansas City, Missouri.

In the Jeopardy! round, Beachy found the Daily Double instantly but took a far-flung guess on the “Cheers to Beer” bodybuilding clue seeking “Mr. Olympia.” She finished the round with $1,000, while Jones swept an “Anagrams Occupations” category like it was nothing for a wide lead of $6,000, and Ross had $3,400.

In Double Jeopardy, Ross found the second Daily Double early and went all-in. He got the “America Before The Revolution Clue” as “Stuyvesant,” bringing him $10,000 and close to the lead to make things interesting. Otherwise, Jones led the way and, bolstered by the last Daily Double, had a near-runaway with $21,800, Ross with $13,600, and Beachy had $5,000. As Jennings reminded the players, “This is not over yet.” That said, it certainly seemed like Jones’ game to lose.

The title of new champ hinged on the “Poetic Characters” clue, which was, “In an 1842 poem, it is said of this legendary character that his ‘quaint attire’ is much admired.”

Beachy wrote and crossed out “Longfellow.” Ross guessed, “Falstaff?” and Jones, whom Jennings applauded for a “dominant game” wrote “Daniel Boone?” The clue was a triple-stumper as the correct response was, “Who is the Pied Piper of Hamelin?.”

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Jennings explained the correct answer saying, “No, this is Robert Browning’s ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ who is dressed in an odd, uh, multicolored way, I guess.” The host trailed off and flung up his hands. “Hence the ‘Pied’ in ‘Pied Piper,” he closed. Jones dropped $4,601 to win with $17,199 and burst into a thrilled expression being named the new champ.

Fans flooded the Reddit thread for the episode with many calling out the vague Final Jeopardy clue, arguing that there was nothing to pin it from “multicolored” to “pied,” and Jennings’ unconvincing explanation.

“Good game! That final was tough,” one Redditor wrote.

“Ken’s explanation of the FJ clue as the subject ‘dressed in an odd, multicolored way’ probably didn’t clear anything up for most viewers, since the clue made no reference to multicolored attire,” wrote another.

Jones chimed into the thread to share Jennings’ reaction to the clue after it aired. They shared that the host told the players he also felt it was “hard.”

“Regarding FJ: Ken told us after the game that he thought it was a hard clue, too,” Jones wrote.

They continued, “I guessed Daniel Boone. It’s come up at least a few times on Jeopardy that he was a significant character in Lord Byron’s “Don Juan” (thanks j-archive.) “Quaint attire” seemed like it could fit a frontiersman, and I knew Byron was early 19th-century (though I was off by a couple decades.) Going into the show, one of the nightmare scenarios I wanted to avoid was: “what if I have a decent guess for Final, but I talk myself out of guessing it because I don’t want to look silly if I’m wrong, and it turns out to have been the correct response?” So one of my personal goals was “write something down in Final, no matter what.” Worst case scenario, you give a silly answer; best case scenario, you luck into the correct response.”

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Additional fans in the thread applauded Jones’ big win and had to give them props for their anagram mastery.

“Wow, Evan nailing the “ANAGRAMMED OCCUPATIONS” category had me in awe. I am horrible with anagrams. That speed in which he dit it was something else,” wrote a third.

“Evan looked like they were genuinely having so much fun! I’m hoping to see them stick around for a few games,” wrote a fourth.

“I hope to see them in the TOC, that performance was great,” agreed a fifth.

One more fan wrote, “Dude you beat that anagram category’s a** good lord lol.”

'Jeopardy!' Fans Call Out Show for 'Blatantly' Giving Away Answer in Clue

What did you think of the game? Was Final Jeopardy too difficult? Will Evan Jones snatch what may be the last Tournament of Champions ticket since the ToC cutoff is Friday (and postseason starts airing on December 30)? And how did no one recognize Faye Dunaway? Every film buff and their sister — no, daughter, actually, sister and daughter — knew that one! Let us know in the comments section!

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