The sport of Jeopardy! hasn’t modified a lot over the previous 4 many years, with a system that makes it the most effective sport exhibits of all time. In reality, there’s lots to maintain it from going stale, as Season 41 continues on the 2025 TV schedule, and this week alone has gifted us with two unforgettable moments. Along with presumably one of many largest coincidences in Jeopardy! historical past, we additionally acquired a implausible callback to considered one of Ken Jennings’ most viral moments as a participant.
Champion Reveals Unbelievable Connection To Remaining Jeopardy! Clue
This week began off wild, as Emily Croke secured the win on June 23 after accurately responding to the Remaining Jeopardy! clue that learn: “In 1896, the Vassar-educated spouse of this man wrote, ‘1000’s of {dollars} could also be paid for a duplicate of Shakespeare.’” The reply was Henry Clay Folger, and residential viewers noticed Croke get the win and advance to the following day’s sport.
What audiences didn’t see was Ken Jennings’ post-game interview with the champ, the place Emily Croke revealed that the “Vassar-educated spouse” referenced within the clue was Emily Folger, or — as revealed on Jeopardy!’s Instagram web page:
That was my great-great-great aunt Emily.
In reality, not solely was Emily Croke associated to the couple within the clue, she was truly named after the distant relative. What are the probabilities that that particular clue would present up on her very first sport? I’m even impressed that Croke was so educated about her lineage (I definitely don’t learn about my very own great-great-great aunt’s accomplishments).
It’s type of a mind-boggling, this-is-all-just-a-simulation incidence, however that’s not the place the enjoyable ended.
Ken Jennings Hilariously References His Viral Enjoying Second
Ken Jennings often is the venerable host of Jeopardy! now, in addition to considered one of Jeopardy!’s largest winners, however again in 2004, he suffered a fairly embarrassing second on the quiz present, when he responded incorrectly to a clue by saying, “What’s a hoe?” That second made an amusing comeback within the June 25 sport.
Within the class “This Is Not a Drill,” the $400 clue learn: “A device with an angled blade to get undesirable vegetation out on the root is known as a Cape Cod kind of this.” Yeah, you may see the place that is going. Contestant Micah Fritz buzzed in with the response:
What’s a hoe?
Sadly, the reply Ken Jennings was in search of was “What’s a weeder?,” however even funnier than the sudden repeat of historical past was the previous super-champion’s response. Jennings advised Micah Fritz:
It looks like ‘What’s a hoe?’ isn’t right out right here.
20 years in the past, when Ken Jennings made the error, he was responding to the “Instrument Time” class clue: “This time period for a long-handled gardening device may imply an immoral pleasure seeker.” Alex Trebek was in search of “Rake,” not “Hoe.”
It truly wasn’t that way back that the writers executed some A+ trolling of Ken Jennings by referencing this very viral second in a clue that featured a person sporting a sandwich board. The inventory picture had been modified to incorporate the phrase “What’s a hoe?” on the board.
It looks like this might function a cautionary story to future Jeopardy! contestants to by no means guess, “What’s a hoe?,” however I really feel just like the writers are positively biding their time and ready for the precise second to insert the gardening device into its area of trivia.
Keep vigilant, Jeopardy! viewers, and it additionally won’t be a nasty concept to brush up in your prolonged household historical past. Verify your native listings for when the sport present performs in your space, and beginning this fall, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will likely be accessible to stream the following day with both a Hulu subscription or a Peacock subscription.