The rough final category cost the returning champ his invitation to the coveted 2025 Tournament of Champions

JEOPARDY! fans are fuming over Thursday’s final clue that they claim is ‘solely opinion based’ and not backed up with ‘any facts’ before the returning champ suffered a brutal loss.

Viewers were also quick to call out host Ken Jennings’ pronunciation of the correct Final Jeopardy! response – though others came to his defense after the controversial moment.

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Stevie Ruiz plays his third game of Jeopardy!Credit: Jeopardy!

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Ken Jennings hosts Jeopardy!Credit: Jeopardy!
On today’s episode of the beloved game show, returning champion Stevie Ruiz was hoping to extend his two-day winning streak into three – securing him a coveted spot in the Tournament of Champions.

The assistant front office manager from Montauk, New York had already scored impressive winnings of $35,987.

He was playing against Lisa DiLeo, a business support analyst from Garwood, New Jersey and Dave Bond, a retired grant writer from West Henrietta, New York.

Host Ken, 50, revealed the first batch of clues in the Jeopardy! round: EPONYMS // THE MIDDLE AGES // 4-WORD PHRASES // ON THE MOVIE MAP // PLAY THINGS // ALSO IN THE TOOLBOX.

Dave was bold right out of the gate and wagered it all on a true Daily Double – the first of the game.

“In an interview one of the 2 title characters of this play admits he let Americans down & his political life is over,” Ken read under the category Play Things.

After betting his entire $2,400 earnings, Dave did not correctly respond with “What is Frost/Nixon”, dropping him down to $0.

Repeating the bad luck, Lisa found the second Daily Double in the Double Jeopardy! round under the category Entertainment Hyphenates.

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Jeopardy! players from left to right: Stevie Ruiz, Dave Bond, Lisa DiLeoCredit: Jeopardy!
“‘Global Offensive’ is one title in this Valve video game shooter whose name refers to a type of military retaliation,” Ken read.

After not correctly guessing “what is counter-strike”, Lisa lost $1,200.

At this point in the game, fans critiqued Stevie for not “hunting” more for the Daily Doubles – a strategy that ultimately could’ve cost the returning champ the game.

This opinion was further solidified when Dave found the third and final Daily Double – resulting in a major boost to his prize pot.

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“After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, it was good night, Saigon & good morning, this new city name,” Ken read under Geographic Name Changes.

Dave correctly responded with What is Ho Chi Minh City? – increasing his total by $7,000.

The bold move paid off as heading into Final Jeopardy!, Dave was in the lead with $25,200.

Stevie was in second, much behind with $12,000 while Lisa had $2,400 by the last round.

Ken revealed the category to be Brand Names as the players made their wagers.

CRAN YOU NOT?

“They’ve been described as having the unique scent of ‘slightly earthy soap with pungent, leather-like clay undertones’,” the clue read.

In another triple stumper, everyone was incorrect and did not write down “What are Crayola Crayons?”

Dave only bet $200 and won the game with a final total of $25,000.

Stevie came in second with $7,201 while Lisa finished with $2,000.

Fans were furious about the final clue, raging: “How did that last clue get approved? It was word salad and completely biased and opinion based? There’s no way anyone would’ve known that, I’d be livid if I was a contestant.”

Another wrote they were “judging the writers”, adding: “They have to attribute the quoted description in the FJ clue to some source, rather than just have the host give it after the fact.

“As written, the quote could literally be from anywhere talking about anything.”

A third suggested: “Really weak FJ. No factual information to go on, just someone else’s description of a subjective sensory experience? Boo.”

“I would not have made the connection without the brand, and even then I was questioning whether the company made a different product I wasn’t aware of,” a critic said.

While another made a note of Ken’s pronunciation of “crayon” sounding like “cran.”

“Not sure if it would have impacted the outcome of the game at all but Ken’s pronunciation of things really throws me off. For example, his ‘crayon’ rhymes with ‘can’ and that’s not accurate.”

Someone else agreed, saying: “I’ve never heard anyone call them ‘crans.’”

Others came to his defense of the Washington state native: “I assumed that was a Utah/Seattle pronunciation thing?”

“Crayons is one of those words that has very different regional pronunciations, like caramel and pecans,” a fan defended.

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Stevie won over $35k in two daysCredit: Jeopardy!

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Dave scored his first Jeopardy! winCredit: Jeopardy!