Will Stewart accrued more than $70,000 over three games of Jeopardy! After seeing his devastating loss, many fans are blaming Ken Jennings for throwing the contestant off during the show. Keep reading to see why Jeopardy! viewers are pointing the finger at the game show host.
Ken Jennings Asks For A More Specific Answer
On Wednesday, Will, a political organizer from Nashville, went up against Arizona resident Grant DeYoung and Kathy Olson of Pennsylvania. Fans were buzzing about Will’s run on the game show so far. He was on a Jeopardy! winning streak and viewers were excited to see how far he’d go.
During the Jeopardy! round, Will was ahead of his fellow contestants. He held $7,600 while Grant and Kathy had $3,400 and $1,800, respectively. However, Grant wound up winning both Daily Doubles.
Surprisingly, the Daily Double losses aren’t what led to Will’s demise on the game show. There were only six $400 clues left on the board, one remaining in each category. As they ticked off the remaining clues, Grant and Will were neck-and-neck. Grant had taken three and Will took two, with one left.
Time ran out after the second-to-last clue because Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings didn’t rule immediately. Underneath the category “In The Period Film” the clue read, “It’s the role Nicole Kidman played in Being The Ricardos.”
Grant answered, “What’s Lucy?” and that led Ken Jennings to ask “Can you?” And Grant rushed to finish his answer before Ken could clarify, “Be more specific.” Grant said, “Arnaz,” and Ken accepted the answer.
“You’re in the lead, and we do not have time for the final clue, so you will have a $400 lead going into the Final,” the Jeopardy! host said. This put Grant in the lead by $400 going into the final round. Will Stewart looked visibly frustrated by the way things were playing out.
Jeopardy! Fans Blame Ken For Will’s Loss
Will had $12,800 and Grant held $13,200 going into the last round. Their fellow competitor Kathy held $6,600. The Final Jeopardy! category was “19th Century Literary Characters.” The clue read, “John Elwes, a millionaire member of parliament who would go to bed before dusk to save on candles, inspired this character.”
All three of the contestants on the game show responded with the correct answer, which was “Scrooge.” However, Grant wound up winning after betting $12,401 on his answer and ending the game with $25,601.
Fans took to Reddit to discuss whether or not Ken Jennings cost Will Stewart another win.
One viewer wrote, “I wonder if there’s any chance that last $400 clue in DJ gets revealed if ‘Lucy’ gets immediately accepted. Obviously, we’re dealing in hypotheticals about whether or not Will could have tied it at that point, but it’s one of those things where that timer just nags at the game a little bit.”
Another Jeopardy! fan chimed in, “Another unnecessary Be More Specific by Ken. The character Nicole Kidman played was Lucy Ricardo, so ‘Lucy’ should’ve been immediately accepted.” They continued, pointing out that this would have given Will the chance to tie Grant in Final Jeopardy! and would have led to an exciting one-question tiebreaker at the end of the episode.
This likely won’t be the last time viewers see Will Stewart though. It is possible that he will be asked back for the Champion Wild Card Tournament, especially after winning three games back to back.
