Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings ‘puts Drew Basile in his place’ with ‘sly’ move fans almost missed at end of the show

JEOPARDY! host Ken Jennings has put Drew Basile in his place with a sly move at the end of the game.

On Monday, three-day Jeopardy! champ Drew faced Graham Hicks, a lighting designer from Ottawa, Ontario, and Erin Buker , a stay-at-home mom from San Pedro, California.

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ABC

After a runaway game by Drew the “Giant Killer,” the Survivor alum competed against Graham in Final Jeopardy.

The players were presented with the clue, “When this body was discovered in 1978, Persephone was suggested as its name.”

Both players were incorrect in their response, with Drew coming close by guessing “What is Ceres?”

Ken , 50, who holds the record-longest winning streak in Jeopardy! history, replied, “That’s the Roman equivalent to Persephone’s mom but I’m afraid that’s not correct.”

He continued to school the current champ by adding, “She was the wife of the god of the dead, Hades or Pluto. This is actually Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered in 1978.”

Viewers commented on Ken flexing his trivia prowess on a Jeopardy-dedicated Reddit board.

One fan asked, “Anybody else laugh at Ken casually dropping some DEEP mythology knowledge at the end?

“He needed to remind Drew who the GOAT is lol.”

“Haha yes him putting Drew in his place with that sly move right at the end! I loved it,” replied another.

Drew dropped $4,000 due to his Final Jeopardy miss but still won the game with $22,400 for a four-day total of $75,682.

DISRESPECTFUL DREW

Jeopardy! fans admitted to missing Adriana Harmeyer after Drew and his questionable behavior beat her out of the game.

On Friday, some viewers accused the Survivor 45 alum of showing off after seeing more modest behavior from players.

The game saw champion Drew take on Josh Heit, a government relations professional from Silver Spring, Maryland, and Richelle Brown, a substitute teacher from Alexandria, Virginia.

Final Jeopardy! ended in a tiebreaker between Drew and Josh, which followed with Drew ultimately beating out his opponent and securing a three-day win.

ABC

ABC

Drew was clearly excited about the win and celebrated excessively, which some people took as “showboating.”

Viewers commented about the episode online, noting the contrast in behavior between Drew and former champ Adriana .

Drew beat Adriana last Wednesday, ending her 15-day streak in the shocking game.

On Friday’s episode, one fan wrote, “Good tense game. After seeing the extremely modest Adriana, Allison et al on my screen for so long I’m still trying to get used to the showboating and banter from Drew.”

Drew had a similar reaction when he beat Adriana two days before, taking a victory lap around the set that put off some fans.

Adriana faced Drew and Tekla Sauter as she went for her 16th straight win, having already amassed $349,600.

Ken noted that if she were to garner a win, she would be tied for the 10th-longest streak in Jeopardy! history.

Drew’s lead was uncatchable as the three went into Final Jeopardy, with him at $23,600, Tekla at $10,600, and Adriana at $9,300.

After he secured the win, he and Adriana had an awkward encounter where he went to shake her hand, but she lifted hers to congratulate him and then put it back down.

The two then made eye contact and proceeded to shake hands.

BAD JOKE?

Some fans also called out the contestant for using his platform to make a joke during Final Jeopardy! on the Wednesday episode, where he had plenty of wiggle room.

“In 1978, a new cologne for men came out called this, what’s being played in the company’s iconic logo,” the clue read.

Jeopardy! Universe

Jeopardy! first aired in 1964 until 1975. Then the nighttime version began in 1974. Since then, many spinoffs of the game show have emerged. Here they all are:

Jeopardy! – (syndicated) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7 pm ET.

Tournament of Champions – 1984 to present, features the top champions who have appeared on the show since the last tournament.

Second Chance Tournament – 2022 to present features hand-selected non-winners from the season prior, where the prize is entry into Champions Wildcard.

Champions Wildcard – 2023 to present, features all one, two and three-day champions from the season prior worth entry into the Tournament of Champions.

Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament (syndication) – 2023 to present, features past greats invited by producers to vie for a slot in Masters.

Jeopardy! Masters (primetime) – 2023 to present, features the six highest-ranked Jeopardy! champions competing against each other.

Celebrity Jeopardy! (primetime) – 1992 to present, has celebrities compete against each other to raise money for charity.

Pop Culture Jeopardy (streaming) – 2024 to present, will feature teams of three tasked with pop culture trivia on Amazon Prime, host and airdate TBD

Jeopardy! has done away with specialized tournaments like its College Tournaments, Kids Week, and Professor’s Tournament to gear towards a more sports-like model, with Masters being the top of the Jeopardy pyramid.

Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years as well, like Sports Jeopardy!.

Drew jokingly wrote, “What is Jeopardy?” as he flashed a huge smile.

“We should have a cologne named Jeopardy!” Ken responded, clearly taken aback by the response.

Some viewers called out Drew for using his shutout game to write a joke answer, especially given the context that he had just defeated a 15-day champion.

“I was not a fan of Drew in this game. This was one of the few games that I actually was rooting for Adriana,” one critic wrote on Reddit.

“I found it to be gloating in a way. I think you should still play the game to your full extent rather than giving a goof answer because you know you had a runaway,” a second person added.

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Getty