'Jeopardy!' fans dub movie mashup category cringeworthy as Ben Goldstein nails second win: 'Vomit of words'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The popular game show 'Jeopardy!' undergoes a variety of ways to keep the game and its viewers fresh and engaging. However, the diverse and challenging categories don't always find the same favor with contestants. One of the most recent additions, the 'movie mashup' category, has been slammed by fans and has infuriated them. New categories have already been added to 'Jeopardy!' several times, and the recent addition has infuriated fans.
On Monday, June 10, Mayim Bialik hosted the episode of Jeopardy! with a baffling category. The episode featured the return of champion Ben Goldstein, a content marketing specialist from Dexter, Michigan, who competed against Jonathan Belford, a television researcher from Garland, Texas, and Mary Kate Gleidt, a nonprofit director from Kansas City, Missouri. The show challenged contestants with the cringeworthy task of combining movies and shows into titles. Although the category "didn't make sense," fans were upset with the clues and slammed the show on social media as "terrible."
‘Jeopardy!’ introduces bizarre ‘movie mashup category’
In the Double Jeopardy! round, Bialik presented the category ‘Let’s Make a Movie Crossover!’ to Ben, Jonathan, and Kate. She went on to explain the category stating there will be “two parts to each response,” meaning two movie/TV show components. The first $1200 clue read, “You stay classy, Kali! A 2004 San Diego news anchorman '&' a 1984 Indiana Jones title structure.” Although no one buzzed, Bialik revealed the answer which was “Ron Burgundy and The Temple of Doom.” In response to an audible scoff from one of the contestants, Bialik straightforwardly replied, “Okay.” The almost-turned-awkward moment ended up with laughter as Ben said, “Let’s try it again” while picking a $1600 clue that read, “An Alan Rickman "Die Hard" villain "wants those detonators" from a title Great Dane of 2002!”
Mary first guessed the clue, “Hans Gruber Beethoven?” however, Bialik deemed her answer incorrect and when no one else buzzed, she foretold it was “Hans Gruber and Scooby Doo.” The challenging category left every contestant in a sigh when Ben said, “No” followed by Mary, “That’s bad.” During the game which went 3/5, there were 19 triple stumpers, meaning all went unanswered, which was the second-lowest count for the season and close to the all-time record of 24. Mary missed both Daily Doubles in the second round, and Jonathan, who had dreamed of being on ‘Jeopardy!’ for 35 years, had a negative score and was unable to participate in Final Jeopardy.
For the Final Jeopardy clue, which stated, “In 2022 Jeff Bezos awarded her $100 million to give to charitable causes because “she gives with her heart,” neither contestant could correctly guess Dolly Parton. Ben wagered $1,000 and emerged as the winner with a total of $9,000 for the day, accumulating a two-day total of $15,198.
‘Worst played Jeopardy! games’
The newest added category left the contestants fuming and they slammed the show on social media. One user tweeted “That was one of the worst played games of Jeopardy I’ve ever seen in my life.” Another one expressed similar thoughts, “This is one of the worst played jeopardy games I’ve ever seen.” Fans were furious as the game left the quirkiness because of the weird categories.
That was one of the worst played games of Jeopardy I’ve ever seen in my life
— Kev Kelly (@_KevKells) June 19, 2023
One Reddit user wrote, “Why would you have been able to get it? It's an incomprehensible vomit of words that no thinking person would ever put together. The category was shit-tier.” Another user aid, “I don’t frequent this sub, but I had to come here immediately after watching today’s episode to make sure people were commenting on what an abomination that category was. It made absolutely no sense. One of the worst categories I’ve ever seen on the show.” One user said, “Yeah, that category was a huge steaming pile.” A fan expressing his thoughts on the category wrote, “That movie crossover category was terrible. I had no idea what half of them were asking. "Ron Burgundy and the Temple of Doom" doesn't make any kind of sense. It's not a pun or anything, it's just random words crammed together. Double Jeopardy today was either clue that were completely incomprehensible or clues that were Champion-level hard, with very little in-between. It was a poor game of clues overall.”