Jeopardy! fans spot 'weird' mess-up they think producers 'didn't notice' (2024)

JEOPARDY! had a glitchy on-air incident that made fans think the iconic game show was accidentally gaslighting them.

The rare redundancy occurred during current champ Adriana Harmeyer's impressive 14-day winning streak.

Adriana, an Archivist and history professor at Purdue University from West Lafayette, Indiana, has been on quite the roll.

As of Monday, June 17, she'd won 14 episodes straight, raking in $326,000 and perhaps counting.

But fans noticed something strange after her 12th and 13th wins last Friday and last Thursday.

In Thursday's Double Jeopardy! round, the players faced a category of "Foreign Words and Phrases."

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And without further adieu, the same category was presented in Friday's Double Jeopardy! round.

The revered game show is not one to present the same topic two nights in a row, so fans were quick to take notice - and, big surprise, they weren't thrilled.

SAME CATEGORY 'BACK TO BACK'

"FOREIGN WORDS & PHRASES showing up in back-to-back days is weird," one Redditor posted after both shows aired.

"The only explanation I can think of is this show being the start of another 6-game taping day, so the overlap just wasn't noticed."

Another fan replied, "Also had two rhyming categories back to back as well," though they weren't named the exact same.

"Reminds me of that instance in one of the 5 billion tournaments where we had the same final Jeopardy category two days in a row," wrote a third.

"Seems like they’d want more variety. They = whoever makes the rules," wrote a fourth.

Another fan wrote on X, "Isn’t this the second time we’ve had “Foreign Words & Phrases” on #Jeopardy this week? Indeed. Actually, the second time in as many days."

Other fans explained on Reddit that Standards and Practices randomly select the categories for the entire week (or one tape day).

It's most likely that two identical categories were written for the same week, which unfortunately became glaring because they were allowed to be placed back-to-back.

ICONIC SEGMENT GETS THE CHOP

Last week, fans noticed that the game show quietly chopped a longstanding segment from new episodes, and it was a bit out of nowhere.

NightlyJeopardy! stopped showing who is competing the next night, and fans are clueless about why.

For decades, viewers would see who would play tomorrow after a winner was declared and their earnings were shown.

AnnouncerJohnny Gilbert, 95, would announce who the reigning champion would face the next day.

The returning champ and their two new challengers would be displayed in a “Tomorrow” graphic during the credits.

Viewers took to Reddit last week, realizing that this is no longer the case.

Instead, the show goes right to its end credits, andKen Jenningsapproaches the players to chat with them as the credits roll.

Though the exact date the change was made isn’t clear, it seemed to have been sometime this month.

Fans were peeved because it's both always been part of the show and gets people - even the contestants themselves - buzzing about tuning in the next night.

"Why doesn't Jeopardy show you which contestants will be appearing on the next show after each game anymore?" one Redditor began a thread.

"Anyone else notice they stopped doing that?"

Others commented, "I was just at the first 3 tapings for season 41 and they didn't appear to do it for the next season either unless it's done in post."

A third wrote, "I noticed that too, my wife was like, who is playing tomorrow?"

And a fourth posted, "Yes I thought there was something wrong with my cable where did the boxout go with the faces of the next players I'm losing my mind."

While the next day's contestants are no longer shown on-air, they can still be found on Jeopardy.com, at least.

That said, the change is especially odd because it has gone unexplained and happened mid-season, as Season 40 ends in July.

SLAY-DRIANA HARMEYER

Meanwhile, Adrianafirst arrived on May 31's episode and has held court all of June, making her Season 40's firstsuper-champion.

Fans are going wild, as it's been nearly two years since there's been a 10-plus-day winner, the previous being13-day champRay LaLonde.

Adriana's 14th win meant she's outplayed Ray and now has the longest streak since 21-day champCris Pannulloin fall 2022.

However, Adriana plays nothing like Cris, who went a vicious 48 for 49 on Daily Doubles.

Instead, Adriana has an old-school strategy that sets her apart from all other streakers in the post-Holzhauer era.

She is a rare, top-down player who refuses to hunt for Daily Doubles.

She's only found 14 of the 39 hidden clues in her streak, and she doesn't bounce across the board to find them.

She relies on pure knowledge, going an astounding 305 correct and 33 incorrect on clues overall and 11/14 on Final Jeopardy.

"Adriana is a sneaky ice-cold player. She's not DD-hunting that much and not very aggressive with her wagering, but by the end of DJ, she has a runaway game!" one fan recently wrote on Reddit.

"Just pure buzzer skill and huge knowledge base. I hope she continues her streak, I would love to see how far she can take this!"

On the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, staffers also talked aboutAdriana's refreshing, old-school style.

“Yeah, we haven't really had someone who’s played as straight-ahead. I know Alex [Trebek] would have loved a player like Adriana."

The other qualifiers for the next Tournament of Champions (all female) are five-day winnersAlison BettsandDr. Amy HummelandCelebrity Jeopardy!'s Lisa Ann Walter.

That said, with four wins,Grant DeYoungandAmar Kakirdewill likely join in as well.

'WRONG' ABOUT STEREOTYPE

In a new interview on Monday, Adriana spoke on her newfound TV fame.

She blasted the stereotype surrounding her home state of West Virginia.

Adrianaspoke toThe Parthenonabout the Appalachian stereotypes surrounding education.

"They’re wrong, like, they’re completely wrong. I personally don’t see any reason to let things stop me," she said.

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The unflappable Adriana will go for her 15th win on Tuesday's episode, leaving more and more power players in her dust.

Jeopardy! airs at 7 pm Eastern on ABC - check your local listings.