Nothing gets the Twitterverse going faster than an egregiously incorrect answer on a game show. Wheel of Fortune has learned that multiple times (a week), with some particularly terrible guesses on the iconic show lately. Now it’s Jeopardy!’s turn to face the firing squad, as fans blew up after two contestants on a recent episode guessed that Diana Ross was the correct response to the Final Jeopardy! clue asking for a 95-year-old singer who...wait, it doesn't matter what the rest of the clue said!
In the category “Singers,” host Ken Jennings asked the contestants, “In 2021 at age 95, this singer achieved a Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material.” One player guessed the correct answer — Tony Bennett — and was thus saved from online scorn. However, both of the other contestants guessed the 77-year-old icon Diana Ross (she’ll turn 78 on March 26), and fans took offense on Ross’ behalf, with one saying insulting the legend like that was absolutely criminal:
In Final Jeopardy tonight, TWO #Jeopardy contestants thought Diana Ross was 95 years old in 2021....95. years. old.I assume they went straight to jail?? pic.twitter.com/25wT8DRlP3March 21, 2022
Ken Jennings tried to smooth things over after Finn Corrigan gave his answer, pointing out that the contestant is 75 years younger than Tony Bennett, possibly trying to justify it as a generation-gap mishap. Another Twitter user noted that this wasn't even the first Supremes-related error in recent Jeopardy! history:
Last week, a Jeopardy contestant thought Aretha Franklin was in the Supremes. Tonight, two out of three contestants thought Diana Ross was the answer to: In 2021, what 95 year old singer released an album of new material? These are surely signs of the apocalypse.
I honestly think the reaction wouldn’t have been so strong if only one person had said Diana Ross. The fact that of all the singers who ever existed, Diana Ross — 18 years younger than what the clue asked for — was who came to the minds of two of the three contestants, it's honestly kind of bonkers. There are obviously worse answers to make, such as Machine Gun Kelly or Snoop Dogg, but still. Some fans imagined what the living legend’s reaction migiht have been upon watching "Final Jeopardy!":
Diana Ross, aged 77, watching the Final #Jeopardy answers today: pic.twitter.com/2adBPreQYeMarch 22, 2022
For all the fans who were saying Diana Ross deserved an apology, worry not, because Karen Johnson, the second contestant to make the incorrect guess, took to Twitter to address the singer and explain what happened:
Deepest apologies to the iconic Diana Ross! I didn’t really think you were the answer, but was running out of time and had to put something!
Finn Corrigan responded on his fellow contestant’s post, saying he also knew his answer wasn’t correct, but he figured he needed to at least take a guess.
Me too! I knew she was not nearly that old but better to write something than nothing. Just glad we’re in this together hahahaha
It might just be me, but I picture Finn Corrigan partially sobbing through all those “hahaha”s. But yes, at least he and Karen Johnson are in the Bad Guess Club together. It’s got to be tough when your mistakes are broadcast on television and then mocked by strangers on social media as if anything was truly malicious. As Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak said recently about players on his game receiving backlash from fans, be kind, because “nobody wants to be trending on Twitter.” (Now if only he could follow his own advice — am I right? — after calling one guy’s story the “most pointless story ever told.”)
Check your local listings to see when Jeopardy! airs in your market, and also take a peek at our 2022 TV Schedule to see when new and returning shows are premiering!
