'Jeopardy!' Host Ken Jennings Faces Backlash From Fans After Allowing Rare Midshow Correction
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'Jeopardy!' fans are up in arms after contestant Luigi de Guzman was allowed to make a self-correction on Wednesday's episode.
Ken Jennings is in hot water with Jeopardy! fans after allowing a controversial self-correction during Wednesday's episode of the popular game show.
The Jeopardy! co-host was kicking off Season 39 this week when fans online began to call him out for making an allegedly unfair ruling in favor of reigning winner, Luigi de Guzman, who scored his fourth consecutive victory on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
The incident in question occurred when de Guzman was answering a clue about a 19th-century British painter, prompting his first response, "Who is Constant?"
"Say it again," Jennings replied.
"Sorry, who is Constable," de Guzman then stated, with his correct answer being accepted.
But Jennings, 48, stirred up controversy later in the show when contestant Harriet Wagner provided an answer about a science fiction author, stating, "Who is Angela LeGuin—sorry, Ursula LeGuin," although her answer was not accepted.
"Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula, but I'm afraid I'd already began ruling against you when you corrected yourself," Jennings said, in reference to the Jeopardy! rule that allows contestants to change their answers "as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a ruling," per their website.
But fans on Twitter couldn't help but notice the double-standard in the two rulings, with many pointing out that Wagner corrected herself even faster than de Guzman, calling the Jeopardy! rule unfair for not providing a certain amount of time for contestants to correct themselves rather than depending on when the host begins to rule.
"Gosh, Jeopardy — why not have a certain amount of time to answer? Harriet answered her revised answer of Ursula at least as quickly as Luigi was allowed to correct his response from Constant to Constable a few minutes earlier," one Twitter user wrote.
Others even accused Jennings of displaying a gender bias in his rulings, with one viewer writing: "why did Ken Jennings let one contestant (male) change a wrong answer, but ruled against another (female), even though she said the correct answer within the time limit? Tonight’s episode was an unfair runaway because of that ruling on the last answer in double jeopardy"
De Guzman came out on top in Wednesday's episode, with Wagner coming in third place, just $100 behind second-place winner Winston Li and $700 behind de Guzman.
"I’m pissed at @KenJennings because was unfair tonight on @Jeopardy. He allows Luigi to correct his mistake, and cut off Harriet as she was correcting her mistake… again favoring Luigi! Very obvious to me!" another Twitter user said.
Someone else tweeted to accuse Jennings of "openly cheating in favor or some contestants," while vowing to never watch the show again as long as Jennings is the host.
Another angry fan said they will only be watching the show when Mayim Bialik hosts from now on.
