Jeopardy! fans were disappointed in host Ken Jennings after they felt he made a ‘bad call’ agreeing that he should’ve asked one contestant to be ‘more specific’
Jeopardy! viewers were left fuming after long-time host Ken Jennings made what they felt was a “bad call” as they felt he should’ve asked the contestant to be more specific with his answer.
During the October 7 episode, Jeopardy! fans felt like it was up to debate whether or not returning champion Mark Fitzpatrick should’ve been awarded points for his seemingly incomplete response. The Connecticut-native took the stage alongside his fellow players Daniel Gately, a teacher from Tucson, Arizona, and Amanda Prusila, a communications advisor from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada as they were quizzed on a series of challenging trivia questions.
Throughout the game there were a number of times when Ken Jennings asked players to be “more specific” so viewers were surprised when he seemed to let Mark off easy during a question in the ‘National Historic Parks’ category. The clue read: “The Hereford cattle on the ranch of this president’s historical national park are descended from his registered herd.”
To which the content manager buzzed in and confidently answered: “Who is Johnson?” And Jennings replied: “Yes LBJ’s right.” And while Mark did correctly guess the U.S. President’s first name, many were stunned that he wasn’t asked to clarify with a last name as well.
Jeopardy! fans thought one of Mark Fitzpatrick’s answers was up for debate (
Jeopardy!/Youtube)
After Mark was awarded the $1200 points, viewers took to social media airing out their frustrations over the call. In a newly posted Reddit thread, one fan wrote: “Bad decision by Ken to rule ‘Johnson’ correct on NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARKS $1200 without a ‘be more specific’ prompt — there were two Presidents with that surname, after all.”
And another viewer chimed in: “From what I can tell, this is now standard practice. Might be a Davies thing.” But others defended Ken’s move, as one viewer wrote: “I get we had two presidents named Johnson, but a cattle ranch is pretty obviously LBJ so let’s not waste time on a BMS.”
Despite the debate over the question, Fitzpatrick was still crowned the champion of the episode and is now on a two-day winning streak. Fitzpatrick won by a landslide against his opponents racking up a total score of $19,600 while Daniel finished with $5,000 and Amanda with $600.
