Jeopardy! fans slam show for ‘awful’ mistake while honoring iconic contestants ahead of Season 41 premiere

JEOPARDY! has angered fans after the show shared a seemingly confusing graphic online to promote the new season.

On Sunday, the game show posted a slideshow of photos on Instagram highlighting Season 40’s top contestants.

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The first few pics showcased stats from the season , including that there were 230 episodes of Jeopardy! and an astounding 432 players who had their chance at the podium.

Also shouted out was Super Champion Adriana Harmeyer , who won 15 consecutive games and was the only contestant to do so throughout the season.

Contestants Alison Betts, Isaac Hirsch, Amy Hummel, and Nam Nguyen also had impressive runs on the show, as shown in a graphic naming them the top five players with the highest earnings.

However, Jeopardy! followers were puzzled by the image and questioned its accuracy.

‘COMPLETELY FLABBERGASTED’

“Can someone explain how the people on the winnings list were ordered? I am completely flabbergasted trying to make any sense of this,” one person asked in the comments.

“Looks like just a stylistic choice. Ranking from top to bottom. It does look like some Venn diagram type of thing tho,” another replied.

“I would get that if it was ranked properly, but it isn’t by any metric; Isaac is fine where he is, but Adriana, Alison, and Amy are in the completely wrong spots, and Drew Basile isn’t so much as mentioned despite being #3 in most metrics this season,” the first user explained.

“I’m sorry, what is that Top 5 Players measuring? Highest single-game wins? Highest average win? That graphic is kind of awful,” someone else chimed in.

Others theorized that the stats measured single-game records, which would explain why some notable players were left out.

Season 41 of Jeopardy! premieres on Monday, and fans expect a significant overhaul of the show’s format .

New episodes will air every weeknight until July 25, 2025, but it will look vastly different than previous seasons.

For one, it will be the first season that Ken Jennings will be the sole official host after formerly sharing the role with Mayim Bialik .

The new season will also have fewer and shorter tournaments, with eight of its 11-month run consisting of regular-style episodes.

This is a drastic change from the last season, which was very tournament-heavy .

Jeopardy! Set Secrets

Jeopardy! fans don’t see everything behind the scenes from watching on TV. These hidden set features make the show run smoothly:

• Each podium has a hidden riser so that all contestants appear to be the same height.
• After each clue is read, signal lights go off around the game board, indicating players can buzz in and respond.
• Buzz in too early, and you’re locked out for .25 seconds.
• The podiums have a small white light in the lower left corner, which tells Ken Jennings who goes next.
• Contrary to popular belief, the player with control doesn’t have a buzzer advantage on the next clue.
• To the game board’s left is a scoreboard so the players can see their opponents’ scores.
• All contestants must bring three outfits to the studio, but only the host and returning champion change for the next episode.
• There are wardrobe rules , including restrictions on busy patterns, solid white, purple (like the background), and logos.
• Five episodes are taped in a single day, and sometimes more.
• The categories, players (aside from the returning champion), and Final Jeopardy! for a tape day are all drawn randomly to ensure fairness.
• Female contestants are asked not to wear makeup, which is applied backstage, and don’t wear mascara because of sweat.
• Contestants fill out a questionnaire, and producers select five Q&A topics for the host.
• Host Ken isn’t allowed to interact with the contestants until after the game.
• Players can request to sit in a chair while competing without question.

Fans expressed their excitement about the switch on social media, claiming the show was “overdoing” it with the tournaments.

Former contestant Sam Kavanaugh also revealed to The U.S. Sun in an exclusive interview that he hopes there will be a more diverse pool of contestants by reverting to the older format.

This change will be reflected right off the bat as Season 41 will begin with regular episodes instead of tournaments like the last two seasons.

Additionally, the game show’s spin-off, Celebrity Jeopardy! , will premiere its third season in the winter, not the fall, as in the past.

This might be to bring some attention to a new spin-off, Pop Culture Jeopardy! , premiering on Amazon Prime Video this fall.

Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost is hosting the new show, which is currently being filmed .

Jeopardy! airs at 7:00 pm Eastern on NBC.

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