Jeopardy viewers couldn’t believe their ears when tuning into Friday’s episode of the much-loved gameshow when Ken Jennings said a cheeky word
Jeopardy viewers couldn’t believe their ears when tuning into an episode of the much-loved gameshow when Ken Jennings said a rather cheeky word.
On December 6, Ken invited Erin Adams, Zach DeBoer, and returning champion Dave Bond into the studio to battle it out – and ended leaving fans ‘distracted’ with one particular phrase.
Asking the trio a question in the ‘A is for Art’ category, Ken said: ‘3-word title of a Titian in the Prado: She’s reaching for the forbidden fruit, he’s reaching for her boob,’ as Zach quickly replied: ‘What is Adam and Eve?’ to which the host replied: ‘Correct.’
Viewers were stunned and immediately took to Reddit to discuss the episode as one person wrote: ‘TIL (today I learned) you can say boob on jeopardy.’
Another fan of the show replied and said: ‘I was so distracted by Ken saying boob that I didn’t even hear the clue!’
A third person pointed out: ‘And the first-ever usage of “boob” in reference to “female breast”, at that! ‘
A fourth Reddit user suggested: ‘Doubt that would fly 20 or even 10 years ago. “Breast” would’ve been the word of choice. The clue writers have gotten more goofy in recent years.’
Someone else replied and joked: ‘Or less Victorian…,’ as another person responded: ‘Victorians would not have said breast.’
Ken said the word ‘boob’ when asking a contestant a question in the ‘A is for Art’ category
A different viewer commented: ‘It was previously established you can say “manboobs”, so this is giving equal treatment to all kinds of boobs.’
Someone else joked: ‘I was really irked by that vulgarity,’ and another person pointed out: ‘Though they have previously used the phrase “minimal boobage” in reference to Lotto’s Susanna and the Elders.’
When one Reddit user posted a link to the paining of Adam and Eve, someone else claimed: ‘I dunno, looks like he’s pushing her away, as in get away from that fruit, not doing what the clue suggests. I think the writers were just feeling cheeky.’
Over on X, formerly known as Twitter, one viewer wasn’t impressed and posted: ‘Boob, #jeopardy? Really? Couldn’t have used the more respectful term breast?
‘Alex used to give the writers feedback on their clues; Ken needs to start doing the same,’ they added, referring to former Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.
The comments come a little over a month after Ken apologized to a female contestant after reading out a ‘sexist’ clue – admitting that the question had been ‘a little problematic.’
During the October 28 episode of Jeopardy!, contestant Heather Ryan buzzed in for a question from the ‘Complete the Rhyming Phrase’ category.
Jeopardy! viewers were quick to comment on Reddit about the use of the word ‘boob’
Dave Bond, Zach DeBoer, and Erin Adams were the contestants on Friday’s episode
Fellow contestant, Will Wallace, correctly buzzed in with the answer ‘girls who wear glasses.’
Presenter Ken was quick to call the clue ‘a little problematic’ before apologizing to Heather, who also happened to be wearing glasses.
Former reigning champion Will also quipped ‘very.’
Luckily, Heather didn’t seem too rattled by the situation – and Ken quickly moved the game on.
Jeopardy! fans, however, blasted the ‘sexist’ clue on social media and slammed the category too.
Taking to Reddit, one said: ‘Rhyming phrases category was awful, especially the sexist clue.’
Echoing a similar sentiment, another added: ‘Frankly, I don’t need to hear Ken read an obviously outdated and inappropriate clue and then call it “problematic.”‘
A third penned on X: ‘More like extremely problematic!’