Danger! Fans started a debate about the rules of the quiz show this week after reigning champion Stephen Webb was seen initially slipping on his clue answer before correcting himself and getting the points.
After completing the High School Reunion Tournament Last week, Webb — a data scientist from Longmont, Colorado — was seen continuing his winning streak that hit five straight games on Monday.
However, in the episode where he scored his fifth win – and qualified for the one Tournament of Champions– Webb left a number of Danger! Fans were stunned after host Ken Jennings awarded him points for an answer he initially botched.
Jennings shared a note to Webb and his collaborators under the bloom category that read, “The US Botanic Garden noted the ‘strong stench’ of this flower, which was in full bloom on August 9, 2022.”
After quickly humming in, Webb replied, “Is that the corpse bloom? What is the corpse flower, corpse flower?”
all time Danger! Champion Jennings accepted the answer as correct, pointing out that it was “the infamous corpse flower”.
Later in the episode, a clue was selected under the “Call Me Cat” category, which Jennings read aloud: “This #1 hit has haunted dads since 1974 as they watch time fly by too quickly as their sons grow up. “
Contestant Karen Rittenbach, an academic tutor from Freehold, New Jersey, buzzed in and replied, “What is Cat’s Cradle?”
“No,” Jennings said before Rittenbach attempted to correct himself with an answer. “What is ‘Cats in the Cradle’?”
In that case, Jennings didn’t forgive the points, declaring, “I’m sorry Karen, I had already decided against you when you corrected yourself.”
The moment sparked outrage from a number of viewers, one of whom wrote on Twitter: “Stephen: *buzzes off three different answers and is declared correct*. Karen: *decided wrong after one answer*.”
“‘Sorry Karen, only Stephen can say 3 different answers.’ -Ken,” another viewer sarcastically quipped on the social media platform.
Another viewer asked, “What’s up with Ken Jennings so quick to say ‘no’ to Karen but Stephen gets 3 tries for the right answer?”
Against the criticism, one Danger! Fan explained, “Contestants can change their answers as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a decision.”
push back, another called: “This seems incredibly unfair and borderline arbitrary, depending on how willing the moderator is to intervene. You should be given the allotted time to come up with an answer and be judged on your first answer like virtually every other game show does.
“Sometimes answers aren’t wrong, but they’re not specific enough, and participants are allowed to add specifics,” replied another viewer. “Stephen said ‘corpse blossom’ and then without a pause and before Ken ruled, modified to ‘corpse blossom’. karen, [on the other hand]paused and Ken decided before revising her answer.”
Following this attitude, noted Danger! Fan account @OneEclecticMom commented, “There are very specific rules about this in Jeopardy, and Ken has followed them to the letter. The host says ‘no’ it’s wrong.”
They post a clip from a previous episode to illustrate the point continued: “Stephen did a perfectly legal, classic example of this on Friday with ‘Wake me up… before you go… go.’ Ken waited to see if Stephen would finish the title and Stephen watched Ken to confirm if he had given enough.”
Closing the thread, the fan wI know that Jennings is “really good at handling that at the moment, when the candidate has completed their answer (like Karen with Katzenwies), they usually decide quickly before rephrasing it. But he waits longer if the answer is partially correct and just needs additional information.”
While fans have previously objected to similar scenarios, Danger! says on its website about the rules that contestants “can change their answers as long as neither the host nor the judges have made a decision.”
“There is no way to prepare for how nervousness can affect you when the game is in play,” the statement continued. “For example, have you ever seen a candidate blurt out an answer and then give a ‘Where did that come from’ look? Do not laugh! It happens.
“If you’re giving an answer and suddenly you hear your mouth saying something your brain wasn’t planning, or you forget to phrase your answer in the form of a question – you can correct yourself, but you have to be quick.”
Webb won his seventh straight game on Wednesday night’s episode, taking his total earnings to $136,881. He will fight for his eighth win on Thursday.
