In the years since Jeopardy lost long-time host, Alex Trebek, the producers of America’s most popular quiz show have tried to fill the host spot with the best person they can. They’ve tried a number of different hosts and settled on two that seem to be doing quite well. And now, long-time Jeopardy fanboy and champion Ken Jennings is hosting Jeopardy during the week and doing a smashing good job at it if America has anything to say about his effort.
Jennings first appeared on Jeopardy back in 2004 when Alex Trebek was the host. He went on to play in seventy-four consecutive games and win more than $2.5 million in prize money, which made him one of the biggest winners in Jeopardy history.
During a recent episode that Jennings was hosting, he came to the Final Jeopardy clue in “The Business of Travel” and read the following: “Adjusted for inflation, the nightly rate this company put in its name in 1962 is now $51.”
Many people at home felt that the question was far too easy for a Final Jeopardy clue. The correct answer was Motel 6. Back when the motel chain was established in the 1960s, it cost just six dollars to rent a room for the night. Now it costs closer to fifty-one dollars depending on which motel you are visiting and which state you are in.
Two of the three Jeopardy contestants got the correct answer. The third contestant, Brian Chang, decided to purposely put down an incorrect answer since he did not know the right solution. However, he figured that he could use his time on Jeopardy to spice up the game show with a bit of humor and perhaps make a few people at home in America laugh with his take on a good old-fashioned joke.
Chang’s solution to the Final Jeopardy clue was “H&R Block.”
Why did Chang write H&R Block as his final answer to the game show? Well, that has to do with Ken Jennings’ final game back in 2004, nearly twenty years ago. When Jennings was at his final clue, the solution was, “Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.”
Jennings guessed that the answer was “FedEx,” but this was incorrect. The correct answer was “H&R Block,” which meant that Chang was looping Jeopardy fans back to Jennings’s big loss all those years ago.
“I know from experience H&R Block is sometimes the right answer, but not today,” Jennings said. “Even though you brought back some bad memories for me, you’re still going to go home with $13,201.”
In the video below, you can watch Jennings and Chang have their interaction after the Final Jeopardy clue is revealed. Do you think Chang was being cruel by calling out Jennings for his mistaken answer all those years ago, or was it just a good old-fashioned joke?
