'Jeopardy!' Fans Upset After Poorly Spelled Response Accepted

Fans of Jeopardy! have recently taken issue with a recent ruling made by host Ken Jennings and judges on the series. During the Final Jeopardy, many felt a contestant’s writing was too illegible to be accepted. Some fans hope the incident could inspire some upcoming changes to the show.

A Wager Would Determine Who Would Win The Final Round

During a recent episode, Rishabh Wuppalapati returned for his second game. He competed against Jay Eversman and Rachel Cassidy.

Wuppalapati had a weak start, not giving the correct response to the first Daily Double, but he managed to get to the lead by the end of the first round. Eversman and Cassidy were both tied for second.

Ken Jennings on ‘Jeopardy!’ – YouTube

By the second round, Wuppalapati managed to keep the lead, but Cassidy was only $300 behind him. As many fans noted, the Final Jeopardy and a well-placed wager could determine who could win the night.

The category was “College Towns” and the clue read: “Two schools in the Southeastern Conference are located in cities with this same name but in different states.” The correct response was “What is Columbia?”

Both Wuppalapati and Cassidy’s written-out responses were deemed correct. However, thanks to his wager, Wuppalapati won the night, with him earning $20,201 while Cassidy earned $19,701. For his part, Eversman incorrectly guessed the school as Oxford, losing everything but a single dollar in his wager.

However, some fans thought that Wuppalapati’s handwriting was too illegible to be accepted. According to The U.S. Sun, the response read more like “Cdumlacf” than “Columbia,” after crossing out his original response. As some fans noted, Wuppalapati voiced the word “Columbia” before Jennings read his answer.

Rachel Cassidy Also Talked About The Show’s Ruling

Host Ken Jennings seemed to take note of the unusual handwriting. While reading Wuppalapati’s response, he said, “He wrote down Fayetteville and changed it to Columbia. And I can read every letter. That is correct.”

While Jennings and the show’s judges accepted the answer, fans gave mixed reactions. Some pointed out that Wuppalapati’s response did resemble the correct response.

Rishabh Wuppalapati on 'Jeopardy!' - YouTube — Rishabh Wuppalapati on ‘Jeopardy!’ – YouTube

As one user wrote on Reddit, “It’s very messy (‘Cdumlaq’?), but all the necessary strokes for “Columbia” are there as far as I can tell.” Some felt Wuppalapati voicing his answer at the last second impacted the decision. As one user noted, “I think him saying ‘I wrote Columbia’ before the answer was revealed affected Ken’s decision honestly. Because once he said that you could kind of see what he was writing, but had Ken had to make it out on his own? I don’t know if it would have counted.”

Some fans think the show should switch from written answers to having contestants type their answers out with keyboards. While keyboards have been used on the show before, such as when users are visually impaired, some fans think they should be used as a default to avoid any ambiguity with answers.

Cassidy herself also talked about Wuppalapati’s win. She shared, “As far as I remember from the audience, there wasn’t any pause in taping to debate over Rishabh’s FJ answer, so whatever their judgment criteria is, there was no debate at all behind the scenes that Rishabh completed his answer successfully.”

What do you think of the ruling? Do you think a switch to keyboards would be a good idea? Make sure you come back to TV Shows Ace for all the latest TV and celebrity news.