‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Took Issue With Three Contestants Losing Out On A Clue Over Its Tough Pronunciation

Another day, another pronunciation scandal for Jeopardy! Eagle-eyed watchers are always quick to pounce on both the hosts or the contestants for seemingly flubbing a word, but this time around, fans criticized the entire show for denying a win to all three players.

This latest conundrum happened during a Double Jeopardy for the category “The Quotable Alex.” The clue read, “An author & former prisoner: ‘Socialism of any type & shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit,'” but things went south for all three players when it came time to pronounce the Russian author.

Via Decider:

While all three of them buzzed in with the correct answer — Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn — host Mayim Bialik was looking for a slightly different pronunciation than what the three contestants gave.

“This is a tricky one to pronounce,” Bialik said.

Jeopardy! fans took to Twitter to blast the show for having a clue that should’ve provided a bit more flexibility, which is pretty surprising if you know how strict Jeopardy! fans on social media can be about answers.

“Even with weeks of practice, I don’t think I can properly pronunciate ‘Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’ and I think #Jeopardy needs to loosen the standards,” one fan tweeted. “It is getting ridiculous.”

— Michael Scibetta (@mscibetta) May 10, 2023

“If you’re not going to accept anyone’s attempt to pronounce Solzhenitsyn, don’t write a clue about him,” another Jeopardy! watcher wrote.