KEN JENNINGS IN JEOPARDY OVER RIGGING SCANDAL
COCKY Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings is on the hot seat after outraged viewers claim he’s rigged the long-running quiz show — and their complaints have triggered chatter his days are numbered, insiders say.
“No one is happy with Ken’s hosting job,” spills an insider. “He comes across as arrogant and says some inappropriate things. It seems he plays favorites! Fans are not happy.”
Jennings sparked the firestorm by allowing four-game winner Luigi de Guzman a chance to correct his answer after his first one was wrong — but later he refused to do the same for Guzman’s competitor Harriet Wagner.
During a category called Cons, Jennings read out the clue, “Here’s a typical early 19th-century landscape by this British painter.” De Guzman buzzed in, answering, “Who is Constant?”
“Say again,” Jennings nudged.
De Guzman then replied: “I’m sorry. Constable. Who is Constable?”
But at a later clue, when Wagner first answered, “Who is Angela Le Guin,” before adding, “Uh, Ursula Le Guin,” Jennings refused to accept her change.
De Guzman then buzzed in and repeated Wagner’s second and correct reply, and Jennings accepted it — securing the guy the victory.
Jennings’ gaffe sent fans into a fury, with “people calling foul, thinking the show’s rigged and Ken is unfair — and a misogynist,” says the insider.
Earlier, Jennings snubbed an August Jeopardy! charity event in Las Vegas, prompting former winner James Holzhauer to slam him as “a guy who’s not here!”
Meanwhile, a prominent media critic brands Jennings “the most annoying man in game show history.”
Adds a source, “Ken can be cocky and abrasive, and he loves to tell crude little jokes along with the clues on Jeopardy! that aren’t really in keeping with the show’s family focus.
“Producers knew Ken wasn’t going to be Alex Trebek when they hired him after Alex’s death, but they fear now he’s ruining Alex’s legacy of kindness and warmth.
“If this backlash keeps up, he may be a shorttimer hosting the show!
The producers are already experiencing buyer’s remorse.”