CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: 'Jeopardy!' viewers always have their priorities set, and they are pretty particular about the way a game should play out. While they especially care about the questions being asked and the dedication of the contestants in answering them, the fans pay extra attention to how the hosts treat their responsibility. And they definitely don't shy away from pointing out the mistakes of the host, as seen multiple times during the current season of the trivia game show.
A promising contestant Alex Gordon ended up with a major blunder that made it impossible for him to come close to a final win during the Monday, July 10, episode. 'Jeopardy!' fans were quick to blame host Ken Jennings for Gordon's loss as they were highly disappointed with how the final round played out for him.
How did Alex Gordon lose?
The returning champion Gordon had racked up a whopping $15,000 when he landed on a Daily Double question, known for making most contestants nervous. However, the category luckily ended up being Medical, which would have worked favorably for Gordon, who was a student of medicine. Jennings was also aware of that as he asked Gordon, "How confident are you in medical, Alex?" This led the contestant to choose the clue worth an impressive $12,000, which left the host surprised, who went on to exclaim, "Wow! Okay, well, we know you graduated. Let's see if it pays off."
However, the clue turned out to be not so medical leaning, as it read, "Joba Chamberlain used the scar from below the elbow surgery named for his fellow pitcher as part of a smiley face tattoo." Gordon looked unsure and ready to lose when he answered, "Who is Joe DiMaggio?" Jennings shared his disappointment briefly on the wrong answer and corrected him, saying, "That's called 'Tommy John' surgery. Tommy John." Named after the baseball pitcher, it was the first-ever surgery performed on the torn ulnar collateral ligament by using another tendon from the patient's body to bandage the tear in the elbow. Gordon's winnings came crashing down to $3000, and while he managed to be the only one to answer correctly for Final Jeopardy, the Daily Double's effect on his score couldn't be healed, losing to his fellow contestant James Tyler who managed to garner $14,200 during the episode.
Fans blame host Ken Jennings for Alex Gordon's loss
Many 'Jeopardy!' fans believe it was because of the little interaction between Gordon and Jennings that the returning champion lost out on a continuous streak. They didn't seem to approve of a clue that would fit the sports category more than medical. One viewer took to Twitter to say, "$12,000 Daily Double? In a medical category? For a med school graduate? And then it's a sports question?? I'm not sure I'd ever get that out of my head." Another one seemed to agree, as they wrote, "Then #Jeopardy pulled a d*** move by slipping in a baseball question when everything else in the category was medical related. I think if @KenJennings kept his mouth shut, #AlexGordon would only have bet $5000."
However, others thought that it was Gordon's overconfidence that should be blamed. A Twitter user wrote, "Dang...Alex was feeling himself on that Daily Double wager and got burned big timeee." "Dude. Do not risk everything on a daily double. He could have had this game. He gave the only correct answer in final jeopardy," stated one explaining why Gordon should have refrained from risking the huge amount. One thought he was being too greedy with the Daily Double, as they wrote, "Sometimes bravado ends in ruin. Goodbye." "That'll go down as one of the worst double #jeopardy bets in the game's history," expressed a fan who was clearly disappointed with how things worked out during the episode.
