JEOPARDY! can sometimes make its fans do a Daily Double-take.
From cursing contestants to Ken Jennings’ jaw-dropping “sex joke,” here are the show’s most NSFW moments.
Jeopardy!’s most NSFW moments include Ken Jennings’ ‘sex joke’ that made Alex Trebek say, ‘woah!’[/caption]
Mayim Bialik had a marijuana ad-lib that infuriated families & the list ‘rolls’ on[/caption]
Jeopardy! is currently being hosted by Ken Jennings, 47, and actress Mayim Bialik, 46.
The permanent hosting slot is still undecided and viewers are buzzing over who will be chosen by the end of Season 38 in July 2022 – many preferring alum Ken.
The gig is said to pay $10million annually but is especially held dear since it was the late great Alex Trebek’s from 1984 until his tragic passing in 2020.
However, there have been some quizzically questionable moments on the family-friendly show regardless.
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‘HOE’ NO!
One of the show’s most famous – or infamous – NSFW incidents involved Ken himself.
During his 74-game run, resulting in $2.5M in 2004 – still the longest streak ever – the then-30-year-old software engineer buzzed in on the category “Tool Time.”
That clue read, “This tool is a long-handled gardening tool that can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker.”
“What is, a hoe?” Ken responded, and gasps and uproarious laughter from the audience ensued – the clip on YouTube has scored 1.2M views.
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Host Alex replied, “Woah! Woah… woah! They teach you that in school in Utah?”
Ken’s viral switch-up of “rake” and “hoe” has even scored a section on the star’s website.
“The longest-remembered thing about my Jeopardy! games, I’m proud to say, will probably be this YouTube clip, in which I am ruled incorrect for supplying the response ‘What is a hoe?’ to a clue … with an unfortunate double meaning,” he wrote.
Since both terms would seem to apply, he added, “I have always wondered if the clue was designed to elicit the ‘What is a h*?’ response from some lucky contestant. It sure smells like a set-up.”
Some fans argue Ken wasn’t wrong in his response to this day (and thankfully he added an “e”), but either way, the choice landed him on lists for wildest Jeopardy! moments since.
In 2004, the alum-turned potential host shocked Alex Trebek when he replied to this clue with ‘what is a hoe,’ instead of ‘rake’[/caption]
The hoe havoc became so memorable, a game in 2022 shaded Ken with the above reference[/caption]
MAYIM’S ‘JOINT’ JOKE
More recently, Mayim got NSFW though her joke wasn’t such a switch-up, and came while hosting.
A May 2022 clue read: “Marijuana issue sent to this ‘committee’ generally composed of both houses of houses of the legislature.”
Then-ongoing champ Ryan Long buzzed in with: “What is: bipartisan committee?”
Mayim said, “No” and after no other contestant responded, she broke the silence with: “Joint committee, get it?”
Twitter ‘roasted’ Mayim for her off-color ad-lib, as one wrote, “Won’t the #Jeopardy writers PLEASE think of the children watching, and their delicate ears that were just exposed to a cannabis reference?”
Another replied, “Hopefully they didn’t get it.”
A third bashed, “Marijuana? Joint? Har de har har….”
As another wrote, “That physically hurt.”
It’s not the first time the show has had some hazy humor, at least contestant-wise
In 2015, two-time champion Dennis went viral for replying to Alex while selecting a clue: “I’ll take the herb Alex.”
Dennis also spoke to The Sun about how the late host encouraged him to go on a drinking tour in Scotland with his $61K winnings – so no burnt feelings there.
CURSING CONTESTANT
In another recent Jeopardy! episode, things seemed to get a bit heated for one contestant named Gregory.
He seemed to be getting antsy after failing to answer a clue he’d selected.
Host Mayim told him to “select again,” and he landed on a Daily Double.
Instead of being happy about it, though, fans noticed Gregory appeared to angrily mouth “f**k.”
Recently, a contestant mouthed ‘f**k’ when landing on a DD[/caption]
He then covered his mouth before starting to scratch his beard as he thought about how much to wager.
One eagle-eyed viewer tweeted: “Did he just mouth ‘f**k’?”
Another responded: “Sure looks like the F-Bomb to me!!”
ALEX RAPS & CALLS OUT KANYE
The late Alex had a penchant for committing to rapping verses himself when such categories would come across the board – yes Alex Trebek rapped the clues.
In 2014, the host began to flex his flow, particularly in a category on the Jeopardy! College Championship episode called Let’s Rap, Kids!
Spitting bars from some of the most popular rap songs of the previous decade including Started From the Bottom, M.A.A.D. City, 6 Foot 7 Foot, and “Panda, fans went wild over the posh personality letting loose.
After rapping Kanye West’s Famous, Alex even remarked, “I hope I don’t get an email from him.”
Alex Trebek would often rap the clues in lyrical categories, once saying he hoped Kanye West doesn’t ’email him’ after rapping about being ‘hood famous’[/caption]
R-AGE OF CONSENT
A less beloved blunder came in April 2015, contestant Tom Imler made headlines when one of his answers was deemed creepy.
A clue read: “In common law, the age of this, signaling adulthood, is presumed to be 14 in boys and 12 in girls.”
This led Tom to blurt out his tragic response which was: “What is the age of consent?”
“Poor guy just destroyed his entire reputation in that moment,” one Youtuber wrote on the unfortunate NSFW shocker – the age of consent of course not being 12 years old.
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“It p**sed me off,” the player told The Daily News on the claims he was a predator, saying he “started to worry that people might think it was true.
“I started to think, ‘Holy cow. What if one day I come home from work and there’s a cop waiting outside my door.’”
This 2015 clue was innocuously looking for ‘what is: puberty’[/caption]
A contestant responded ‘What is: the age of consent’ and was then worried ‘police would show up at his house’[/caption]
But from Alex Trebek rapping to Ken Jennings making an accidental ‘sex joke,’ most of Jeopardy!’s NSFW moments are simply good-natured gameshow greatness[/caption]
