ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / ECONOMY & WORK

'Jeopardy' player somehow makes the same mistake twice even after Ken Jennings warned him

The competitor was able to make a comeback and walk out as the champion, which is impressive.
PUBLISHED APR 22, 2025
Screenshot of Ken Jennings hosting "Jeopardy!" (Cover image source: YouTube | Jeopardy!)
Screenshot of Ken Jennings hosting "Jeopardy!" (Cover image source: YouTube | Jeopardy!)

“Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings has been slammed for his gaffes and has even apologised on one occasion, but he is usually helpful towards contestants. But the contestant-turned-host can't be blamed if a player just doesn't take note of his warnings coming from his personal experience as champion and host on the show. The phrasing of answers on "Jeopardy!" has to follow a certain pattern, and the words ‘what is’ must come before them. Some contestants might forget to say that once, but to make the same mistake twice on the same show, even after the host's warning, is just embarrassing.

That’s what a contestant named John Liu did on the show and was slammed by fans on Reddit for it. The first time he did it on an earlier episode of the show, according to a TV Insider report, was during the first Daily Double. He responded to a clue by forgetting to add “what is” before answering ‘claw machine.’


 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Lilly aka OneEclecticMom (@jeopardybutmakeitfashion)


 

He was correct when Jennings asked him to remember his phrasing. One would have thought that this would be enough for the contestant to remember the rules, but that wasn’t the case. Liu had $5600 in his purse before the second Daily Double of the day. He decided to go all in, which surprised the host. The clue was, “Broca’s & Wernicke’s are 2 types of this condition in which language use & speech are impaired.”

Screenshot showing John Liu on
Screenshot showing John Liu on "Jeopardy!" (Image source: TV Insider)

The contestant correctly answered ‘Aphasia’ but once again failed to say ‘what is’ before the answer. This time, it cost him dearly. “I’m sorry, no, you forgot your phrasing, John. ‘What is: Aphasia.’ So important,” Jennings said as the amount in his purse went to 0. He did, however, regain his lead by the time Final Jeopardy came around with $5600. The clue in that round was, “One of the 10 or so babies born at Argentina’s Esperanza Base in this place was fittingly named Marisa de las Nieves.”

Liu answered ‘Antarctica’, which was correct, and this time, he remembered his phrasing and made no mistake in that aspect. It added $2,201 to his purse, making him a Jeopardy champion with $7,801. Despite his achievement, fans slammed him on Reddit for making a silly error twice despite the host telling him where he was going wrong.

Screenshot showing a couple of comments from the Reddit thread. (Image credit: Reddit)
Screenshot showing a couple of comments from the Reddit thread. (Image source: Reddit)

“I was genuinely appalled at the quality of clues, category gimmicks, and overall board composition today. Most of them were either really difficult or phrased in a very puzzling manner. John’s misphrasing on that DD made me cringe (with the utmost sympathy), and I congratulate him on his ability to claw back from this unfortunate error,” one user wrote.


Comment
byu/jaysjep2 from discussion
inJeopardy

 

“It was really unpleasant/uncomfortable to watch,” another pointed out. “I am also very confused as to why John got credit for “a claw machine” without the full phrasing. “I even went back and re-watched that part with closed captions (in case I didn’t hear it) and I didn’t see the phrasing there either,” a third user commented.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
The nascent nature of the company prevented the sharks from investing in it.
14 hours ago
Harvey seemed quite annoyed after the guest revealed her surprise and rightfully so.
1 day ago
Both Rick and his son Corey had a lot of luaghs while talking about this item for obvious reasons.
1 day ago
She was just happe to be with Drew Carey on stage, and perhaps did not expect such a big win.
1 day ago
The segment started with a couple of people entering the stage wearing cakes over their heads.
1 day ago
The valuation he asked for was as crazy as the outfit he wore, and the sharks said no.
1 day ago
The contestant's answer had no lewd intention but Steve Harvey made sure it did.
2 days ago
Fans of the gameshow are known to be vocal about their needs and this was just an example of that.
2 days ago
The guest stood firm at what he wanted and Harrison was forced to raise his low-ball offer.
2 days ago
The contestant was confident in his abilities and he steered his team to an impressive win.
2 days ago
The sharks could not believe what they had just witnessed but it sure was entertaining.
3 days ago
The guest said that she wanted $15,000 but had to settle for just a couple grand.
3 days ago
Fans of the show were shocked she was not able to get it right after coming so close.
3 days ago
Corcoran was confident that the entrepreneur would take her deal but that was not the case.
4 days ago
The host's expressions upon seeing the answers on the board were absolutely priceless.
4 days ago
The guest was a friend of the Harrisons and he turned out to be quite the negotiator.
4 days ago
The guest had an item that was presumably made in the pre-1800s era, which made it valuable.
5 days ago
She had asked for $250,000 when she came and she walked away with close to $400,000.
6 days ago
The showrunners must have had a storm on their hands when they were called out.
6 days ago
Steve Harvey burst out laughing when he heard that answer, as was the case in much of the round.
6 days ago