We’ll take the Right Answer for $200.
After “Jeopardy!” crowned a new champion on Wednesday, viewers reacted to a shocking moment during the dramatic showdown.
During the episode, judges controversially allowed a Final Jeopardy answer that was technically incorrect into play, and it decided the game.
Joey DeSena, a development engineer from Raleigh, North Carolina, had back-to-back wins and earned $44,698 total when he faced off against two competitors.
First up, Lois Dioro, a realtor from West Haven, Connecticut, and Evan Dorey, a data analytics director from Toronto, Ontario.
Going into Final Jeopardy, Dioro and Dorey were tied at $14,600, while DeSena was still in contention by just $100 with $7,400.
It all came down to the “POETRY & PLACES” clue: “It’s the geographic word in the title of a Robert Burns poem about “the mountains … covered with snow … the straths & green valleys below.” The correct response was “Highlands.”
DeSena was incorrect with “Moor??? It was fun!” which led him to drop to $199 and end his run. Dorey wrote “Highland” and appeared unsure. The judges accepted it, and he doubled up to have $29,200.
“And we will accept that,” Ken Jennings said as Dorey exhaled at his podium. “‘My Heart’s In The Highlands‘ is the name of the poem,” the host, 50, explained. Dioro was also incorrect with “Scotland,” dropping to $12,000. Dorey’s response made him the new champ.
Fans flocked to Reddit after the episode to react to the Final Jeopardy ruling, with viewers voicing their confusion about an answer with a missing a crucial letter being accepted.
“I’m confused. If a FJ contestant gives a singular name though the correct title is plural, it’s accepted. But if they write that singular and are starting to add s when time runs out, it isn’t?” one fan wrote, per TVInsider.
“Little confused by that myself,” another said on the page. “I thought if the answer was a word in a title, the answer needed to be the title word, not a version thereof.”
A third fan chimed in, “My interpretation of this ruling is: If the clue specifically wanted the full title and he wrote ‘My Heart’s in the Highland’, that would be incorrect. But since they just wanted the word rather than the full title, they’ll take singular or plural.”
Rounding out the comments, one viewer tried breaking down what happened.
“I can’t think of any other examples where a ‘word in the title’ clue had any wiggle room on the response. ‘Highland’ is not a word in the title of the poem; ‘Highlands’ is. (Maybe because ‘highland’ is contained within ‘highlands’??? But that seems ridiculous,” they said. “By that logic, ‘land’–a geographic word in and of itself–should have been an acceptable response as well.) I think this was a the-ends-justify-the-means ruling. Evan was the best player today so he deserved to win, but under a strict interpretation of the rules and the wording of the clue, I don’t think ‘highland’ was a correct response.”
Meanwhile, outgoing champ DeSena entered the chat, writing in part, “Well, the improbable mini-streak has come to an end. All the credit in this game goes to Evan and Lois, who were two amazing competitors that came to play. I felt like a fan myself during Final, excited to see how the tie would break! I know it’s been said maybe times before, but I have utmost respect for the players that can rattle off 5 wins in a tape day. That is draining!”
The Post has reached out to “Jeopardy!” for comment.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
