Jeopardy! contestant makes same mistake twice and lands in the negative on game show as player mocks his major flub

A JEOPARDY! contestant proved he was a good sport when the player poked fun at himself over his memorable appearance on the show.

T.J. Tallie, an associate professor at the University of San Diego, declared the blunder “my finest moment” in a comment under the throwback clip posted on Jeopardy’s Instagram account on Friday.

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The hilarious moment occurred during the Champions Wildcard tournament last fall.

In the episode that aired last October, the former one-day champ faced off against California-based engineer Jay Foster, and Sarah Reza, a museum program manager from Maryland.

Despite starting off strong, T.J. stumbled after he mistakenly thought two clues were referring to the late Hollywood star Heath Ledger in a category called “The Jokers.”

T.J. had $2,200 on the board when he uncovered a Daily Double and decided to go all in with his True Daily Double wager.

The clue read, “A 2013 Oscar-winning actor; his surname is also the name of Apollo’s mother.”

T.J. dropped to zero after he incorrectly guessed “Heath Ledger” instead of “Jared Leto.”

He made the same mistake in response to the $400 clue in the same category that read, “In 1984 he was still known as Leaf when he played Robby in the ABC afterschool special ‘Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia’.”

“Agh!” T.J. exclaimed when he got the answer wrong again, before the turn passed to Sarah and she triumphantly declared “Joaquin Phoenix” was the right response.

T.J. reacted to the video shared on Instagram, quipping, “In a way, aren’t we all really Heath Ledger?”

He also added, “THIS IS MY FINEST MOMENT.”

“Third time was indeed the charm,” one fan replied to T.J., referring to the final $200 clue under The Jokers during the episode.

After Sarah selected it, the contestants were shown a picture of the later actor, who played the Batman villain in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film The Dark Knight.

The studio audience began laughing, as host Ken Jennings read out the clue: “His final role was as Tony in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus in 2009.”

“Who is Heath Ledger!” Tony shouted, for a third time during the episode.

Jeopardy! Universe

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

Jeopardy! – (primetime) 1974 to present, weekdays on ABC at 7pm

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

Celebrity Jeopardy! – 1992 to present, has celebrities comepete against each other to raise money for chairty

Jeopardy! Masters – 2023 to present, features six notable recent Jeopardy! champions competing against each other

Jeopardy! National College Championship – 2022 to present, undergraduates from 36 colleges and universities across America compete to win $100,000

Other versions of Jeopardy! have fizzled out throughout the years

Despite that being the right answer, Ken couldn’t help but pull T.J.’s leg after his previous two mistakes.

“No I’m sorry, that’s not correct,” he said, with a straight face, as audience members burst out laughing.

“Yes, it’s Heath Ledger,” Ken quickly amended, much to T.J.’s relief.

Jeopardy! is currently on hiatus for the summer, before the game show returns in September 2024.

‘SO WRONG, IT’S RIGHT’

Former Jeopardy! contestant and producer Ken, 50, took over as host after Alex Trebek’s death in 2020.

Fans praised Ken as “the funniest man on TV” after the iconic game show compiled a montage of his best responses to blatantly wrong guesses over the years.

“The replies to the wrong responses are KILLING MEEEEE Ken you’re perfect,” one fan commented under the video shared on Instagram.

“Alex must be cracking up in heaven,” another person wrote.

A third comment read, “Ken is lowkey the funniest man on TV.”

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