‘Jeopardy!’ contestant’s huge loss: ‘Dumbest player in history’
“Jeopardy!” has been hit with another head-smacking gaffe.
During Wednesday evening’s episode, contestant Karen Morris made a bad choice with her bet when it came to the final rounds of the trivia show — and she lost big time.
Morris was in the lead with earnings of $21,800, while the other players had scored $7,100 and $6,400.
During the Double Jeopardy segment, Morris opted for a huge bet — $10,000 — in an attempt to emerge as the victor of the game.
“This artist the younger was working on yet another portrait of Henry VIII when he died in 1543,” host Ken Jennings said in giving her the clue, and the veterinary student, head shaking, struggled to come up with an answer before time ran out.
“I’m sorry — Hans Holbein the Younger, the painter,” Jennings said, to which Morris responded in a whisper: “OK.”
When it came down to the Final Jeopardy round, the category was “American Novelists,” and the Virginia native had just $11,400 to her name.
The clue: “He served with an airman named Yohannan in World War II, and despite what readers might think, he enjoyed his service.”
The correct answer was “Catch-22” author Joseph Heller, and Jennings underscored the importance of Morris’ forthcoming response, saying, “She had a big lead before tangling with that last Daily Double — she needs to get Heller her.”
Unfortunately, a blank-faced Morris, who had wagered $6,001, wrote Hunter S. Thompson — the “gonzo journalist” known for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
With a shrug, she unceremoniously dropped to $5,399 and a third-place finish.
Fans couldn’t help but scoff and roll their virtual eyes at Morris’ blunder.
“Karen Morris might be the dumbest #jeopardy player in history. She had a $14k lead with only $2400 in clues left on the board, and she wagered $10k on a daily double she got wrong LMAO,” a viewer tweeted.
“Welcome to 3rd place and Jeopardy infamy,” added another.
One longtime watcher chimed in: “I’ve watched Jeopardy regularly for 35+ years and can’t remember anything that stupid. #jeopardy.”
Someone else wrote: “This person made worst daily double bet of all time – costing her sure win and putting her in third place. Who is Karen. #Jeopardy.”
But Morris is trying not to take the hate to heart and even responded to — and seemingly made light of — her on-air mistake on Twitter.
“Making an appropriate wager requires considering the likelihood of knowing the correct response, which requires assessing your competency in the category, which requires awareness of what the category is, which, at that moment, I DID NOT HAVE,” she shared on Wednesday, before adding a final assessment in another post.
“Ultimately, I did what I did, and I had THE MOST FUN, and at the end of the day (I’m sorry Mom, I know you hate that phrase) it’s a game, and it’s a show, and it’s a game show,” she wrote.
Morris’ loss was the latest in a string of blunders by the contestants and the show itself.
Earlier this week, a contestant mispronounced Ewan McGregor’s name as “Ewan Gregor,” which host Ken Jennings permitted, setting her up for a win despite the error.
The show also apologized recently when an episode’s final scores for players were flashed on-screen at the beginning of the show — spoiling the final outcome for viewers.
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