Jeopardy producers responded belatedly to a controversial moment last month when one contestant was allowed to change their answer during the game and another was not. The blame fell on host Ken Jennings who was accused of unconscious misogyny, but producers Mike Davies and Sarah Foss say it is more complicated than that. They said that fans may not have realized how the subtle rules are enforced behind the scenes.
The outrage began on Wednesday, Sept. 14, when contestant Luigi de Guzman was allowed to change his answer to the clue: “Here’s a typical 19th-century landscape by this British painter.” Guzman first said: “Who is Constant?” and Jennings responded: “Say it again.” Guzman then changed his answer to: “Who is Constable?” and Jennings accepted this as correct. Later in the same episode, contestant Harriet Wagner corrected herself in mid-sentence while answering a clue about a sci-fi author. She said: “Who is Angelina LeGuin — sorry, Ursula LeGuin,” but Jennings ruled that she was incorrect. Guzman won the night’s game overall.
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“Harriet, you remembered that her name was Ursula but I had already begun ruling against you when you began correcting yourself,” Jennings explained during the broadcast. A few days later, Davies and Foss discussed this awkward moment on their podcast Inside Jeopardy. They explained that the situation was not as straightforward on set that day as it appeared in the episode.
“Luigi did initially respond in the Jeopardy! round, ‘Who is Constant’ to one of the clues. But Ken did not hear him, so Ken asked Luigi, ‘Can you repeat that?’ When Luigi repeated it he did change his answer to ‘Constable.’ And we made the ruling that he was correct,” Foss explained. “It is in the rules that until the host rules you incorrect you can change your response. Just by Ken saying ‘can you repeat that,’ he generally didn’t hear him so it was up to Luigi whether he wanted to keep the same response or change it. But that’s why you’ll see that moment in the game play out and that’s why it happened.”
Foss said that it was unfortunate that a comparable moment for Wagner came later in the same night. She said: “It certainly was a hard moment for us. Harriet responded ‘Angela LeGuin,’ Ken ruled her incorrect and she corrected herself after. This is one of those things we had to go back and check the timing.”
Davies assured fans that the producers actually “went frame by frame” to ensure that Jennings had not made a mistake in either of these cases. He said that the recordings showed Jennings ruling Wagner’s answer wrong 10 frames before she corrected herself. Finally, Foss said: “We want everyone to know we take time when these things happen and we make sure to make the best call possible.”
It seems like Jeopardy is destined to remain a lightning rod for controversy as its new season gets underway. The series airs on weeknights at 7 p.m. ET in syndication. Check your local listings to find the right channel in your area.
