Tom Hanks Was Shocked ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants Missed A Clue About Him Playing Mister Rogers

Jeopardy! fans are still buzzing about James Holzhauer’s performance in the Tournament of Champions and the upcoming tournament between Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings early next year.

But Jeopardy! is a show that’s much bigger than one man, even Alex Trebek. And regular Jeopardy! play has had its entertaining moments as well. That included a moment where the show’s contestants completely blanked on who Tom Hanks was. The actor played the legendary children’s entertainer in a film that hit theaters this month. But last week, three contestants on the show blanked when asked a question about Mister Rogers where Tom Hanks was the answer.

— Darwin Brandis (@DTBbyTheSea) November 19, 2019

What makes this particularly startling is that the clue actually shows Hanks in character as Fred Rogers, footage they would likely have sen from trailers for the movie when that show was taped. The makeup Fast-forward to Monday’s episode of Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel, where Hanks was a guest. Kimmel actually showed him a clip from Jeopardy! and let him react to the stumper, and he wasn’t happy.

The moment comes at about the 4:20 minute mark of the clip above, where Hanks is showed what happens and gets predictably miffed.

“You are kidding me!,” he exclaimed, drawing huge laughs from the crowd. “They didn’t even have any wrong (guesses)”

Indeed, only one contestant even tried to buzz in, but after the timer had expired. Hanks suggested some joke wrong answers there, obviously stunned that no one could recognize one of the most popular actors in America. Kimmel tried to help, chalking it up to his believability as the character. But Hanks wasn’t having it.

“”I take it as you inhabited that character so beautifully that even they were absorbed instantaneously,” Kimmel said.

“I’ll take that. Thank you,” Hanks said. “I think actually they were blinded by the red sweater and couldn’t make anything out.”

It wasn’t anyone on the show’s finest moments, but Hanks definitely gave Kimmel what he wanted. And unlike everyone on the show, he’s certainly not wrong here.