‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Spelling Error Gets Punished

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Friday, January 9, episode of Jeopardy!]

The final quarterfinals game of the Jeopardy! Champions Wildcard took place on Friday, January 9. The game came down to a spelling error that cost one of the contestants the game. Fans reacted to the mistake.

Ian Morrison, from Aurora, Colorado, returned to the tournament. Morrison took down the giant slayer, Jonathan Hugendubler, after his third game. Morrison ended with a one-day total of $22,009, after being defeated by Paolo Pasco. Morrison faced off against Ryan Sharpe, from Oakville, Ontario, Canada — he clinched the final Second Chance Tournament spot and James Corson, a two-game champion from Fredrick, Maryland, who took home $70,000 in March.

Morrison, an airline ramp agent, found the Daily Double on clue four. He had $800 in his bank but wagered the allotted $1,000 in “Biblical Language.” The clue read, “An Israelite military leader lends his name to this species of yucca.”

“What is Gideon?” he answered incorrectly. Morrison dropped down to -$200. The correct response was the Joshua Tree.

He quickly got out of the hole by the first commercial break. Corson, a nuclear engineer, also got on the board and surpassed Morrison.

By the end of the round, Sharpe, a recent graduate, led with $6,400. Corson was in second place with $4,200. Morrison had $3,600.

In Double Jeopardy, Sharpe maintained the lead when he answered the first two clues of the round correctly. He then found the first DD on clue three. With $9,200 in his bank, he wagered $6,174. In “U.S. Bodies of Water,” the clue read, “Named for a duke, this nearly 700-mile-long river rises in Kentucky, flows through Tennessee, then back into Kentucky.” He correctly responded, “What is the Cumberland?” giving him $15,374.

He also found the last DD on clue 10. Sharpe had $18,794 and wagered $2,048 in “They Call Me Mellow Yellow.” The clue read, “At the turn of the 20th century, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World & this publisher’s New York Journal spread lurid yellow journalism.” He correctly responded with “Who is (William Randolph) Hearst?” This gave him a new total of $21,022.

While Morrison and Corson got a few clues right, they couldn’t quite catch up to Sharpe. He ended the round with $24,222. Corson had $11,000. Morrison was in third place with $8,800.

Final Jeopardy was where it all went wrong for Corson, who had the chance to take the lead. The category for Final Jeopardy was “Notable Americans.” The clue was: “Known in Mexican history as the sale of the Mesilla Valley, the 30,000-square-mile deal was negotiated by this U.S. diplomat.”

More from this section

How award season has evolved into a second-screen spectacle

Related

'Jeopardy!' Fans React After Wildcard Thriller Goes to Wire

While all three game show contestants had the same answer, one spelled it incorrectly, so they couldn’t count the answer because it changed the pronunciation. The response was James Gadsden.

Morrison wrote “Who is Gadsden?” He wagered $8,800, ending with $17,600. Sharpe also had the same response. He wagered $1,729, ending him with $25,951. Corson wrote “Who is Gasden?” and then crossed it out and put “Gadsen.” They were still both spelled wrong. He wagered all of his money, so he dropped down to $0.

Sharpe won the game and made his way to the semi-finals, which begin on Monday, January 12.

Fans reacted to the spelling mistake on Reddit. “My heart broke for James; you could see in his face what he knew the ruling was going to be,” one fan said.

“Corson omitting a letter is a bummer, but he is so cool, and I hope there are other chances,” said another.

“I feel so bad for James,” added a third.

More Headlines:

• ‘Jeopardy!’: Who Advanced To the Champions Wildcard Semi-Finals?
• ‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React After Spelling Error Gets Punished
• ‘A Hundred Percent’: Everything You Need to Know About Nick Kroll’s New Netflix Comedy
• ‘9-1-1’: Tim Minear Admits He Has ‘Tons of Regret’ Over Killing Off Bobby
• Former ‘Queer Eye’ Star Shares Health Update Amid Stage 3 Cancer Battle