'Jeopardy!' Fans Lash Out at Show Over 'Poorly Worded' Final Clue

Posted by Noelle Montes on Friday, May 3, 2024

Jeopardy! fans were left scratching their heads when a question in the final round was deemed "poorly worded."

James Tyler, a senior editor from Blandon, Pennsylvania went up against returning champ Alex Gordon and Dileri Johnston, a pottery teacher from New Jersey. They battled it out on Monday's episode which was hosted by Ken Jennings.

As they headed into the final round, Tyler was clearly ahead with $14,200 and Johnston was in second place on $10,400. Gordon was much further behind on $3,000 and even though he was the only one of the contestants to get the answer right, it was not enough to make him a three-day champion.

The Final Jeopardy! clue read: "At the 1865 Paris art salon, the elder of these 2 men said 'if the younger were successful, it would be because his name sounds like mine'."

Gordon correctly guessed, "Who are (Édouard) Manet and (Claude) Monet?" while the other two players only wrote one name.

But fans watching at home protested, saying the question was not clear that there needed to be two names written down.

"Exceptionally poorly worded final question on #Jeopardy tonight—looks like many were confused about whether it was asking for one name or two," wrote one person on Twitter.

Another added: "The final@Jeopardy was super confusing—sounded like they just wanted the name of the elder or the two Artists... #jeopardy."

A third wrote: "WTH #Jeopardy! "The elder of these two men said. . . ." The question was confusing. At home? We debated about who was older Manet or Monet. No one said the answer was both artists. Final Jeopardy was unclear."

And a fourth commented: "Glad James still won because that was a poorly-written question. I can understand why they wrote singular artists. #jeopardy."

The controversial question comes from an interview Monet gave art critic Marc Elder at his famous Giverny property in 1924.

In the interview he recalled the moment Manet was talking about him, saying the above quote, but not realizing Monet was in his presence. According to the famous artist, Manet became very distressed when he realized Monet had heard him.

"He was upset. I was no less," Monet told Elder in the interview which was republished in the Le Parisien newspaper in 2015.

Despite winning on Monday night, Tyler will remain a one-day champion after Justin White from Kansas won big on Tuesday, July 11.

Jennings was back hosting the syndicated version of the quiz show after his block of pre-recorded shows came to an end in April.

Then in May he hosted the masters spin-off series, which saw the best Jeopardy! players come back to battle it out and be named the greatest contestant.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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