‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Calls Out Show For ‘Poorly Worded’ Clue

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the September 16 episode of Jeopardy!]

Some Jeopardy! clues can be confusing, and that was definitely the case during Monday’s (September 16) game.

Returning champ Evan Suttell, a nonprofit program assistant originally from Lakewood, Ohio, with a one-day total of $20,200, faced off against Aiden Orzech, a teacher from Thornhill, Ontario, and Sam Watson, a pharmacy software salesman from Westwood, Kansas. It was one of the clues during the Jeopardy! round (which Suttell correctly answered) that had fans on Reddit confused about what the show wanted.

In 1964 Firsts, the $800 clue read as follows: “The first courtroom verdict on live network TV was when this assassin’s assassin was found guilty & sentenced in Dallas.” Suttell rang in and was right with Ruby, for Jack Ruby.

However, one viewer called that clue “poorly worded,” explaining, “It could mean ‘this assassin of an assassin’ [Jack Ruby] or ‘the assassin of this assassin’ [Lee Oswald].” Another person thought that was “a very good point” and suggested that would mean that a guess of Oswald would have had to be given to them. (That didn’t come up during the game, since Suttell was the only one to ring in and answered Ruby.)

But for another fan, there was no confusion. “I didn’t notice that because it was a picture clue so I was just listening to Ken’s read and it made sense in the moment. Listening to it again, I think Ken was able to emphasize it in such a way that made it clear which one they were looking for: this assassin’s assassin,” the person wrote, referring to host Ken Jennings, but did acknowledge, “The clue should be able to stand on its own, so I agree with you that the clue could use a rewrite to be more clear.”

It was in reply to that comment that the person who noted that Oswald would have had to be deemed correct added, “The photo was of a courtroom scene so that did not determine the correct answer. They would have had to have ruled both Ruby and Oswald correct since this assassin’s assassin refers to Oswald and this assassin’s assassin refers to Ruby. For Ruby to be correct, think there should be a hyphen between the two assassins. If so, Oswald is actually more correct.”

Orzech won the game, becoming a one-day champ with a total of $27,599.

What did you think of the clue? Let us know in the comments section below.

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