NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: 'Jeopardy!'s current co-host Ken Jennings has been a legend on the trivia game show and is yet to pass on the title after retaining it for almost 20 years. Hence, it's usually surprising for viewers to see Jennings ending up with anything other than a perfect win on any game show.
However, the much-loved 'Jeopardy!' host recently lost out on a big win on the '$100,000 Pyramid' show. While many of his fans were a bit disappointed to see him lose, most agreed that it was a fun game and that Jennings faced decent competition.
How did 'Jeopardy!' host Ken Jennings lose on '$100,000 Pyramid'?
'$100,000 Pyramid', hosted by Michael Strahan, has a similar format to other game shows like 'Jeopardy!' where you are given clues that need to be associated with answers in a short time frame. The setup of 'Pyramid' works similarly to a game of charades where the player has a partner to give them clues for the word. Unfortunately, Jennings wasn't able to keep a good pace in figuring out the cues given by his partner in either of the two rounds of the word association game. On the other hand, 'Sex and the City' star Mario Cantone managed to reign over the 74-day 'Jeopardy!' champ through a good partnership with his fellow contestant, which Jennings lacked.
Fans say Ken Jennings got the perfect competitor on '$100,000 Pyramid'
Many fans were understandably disappointed by the outcome of the game, as they often assume Jennings to be the undefeatable victor of all game shows. Soon after his loss came to light, a Reddit thread on the r/Jeopardy subreddit went on to discuss the said '$100,000 Pyramid' episode. A user commented, "It was a shocking result too. He actually lost twice to Mario Cantone. I can't believe it." Another put it up to Jennings' bad luck on this particular episode, saying, "It was the luck of the draw. He and his partner in each round chose categories that were slightly trickier. Could have gone either way."
Several 'Jeopardy!' fans agreed that Cantone gave him good competition with his own quick thinking and trivia skills. "That exchange where Ken complained about getting "salivate" and Mario said something like, "damn right I got 'biscuit'!" is the exchange I've been hoping for for years. They're both right. Ken got harder categories, but he really should have a huge advantage. I wish I'd have seen him in the winners circle, though." One user shared, "I really feel like ken had bad luck with some of the words,, especially salivate and the word that came right after. But Ken and Mario are two of my favorite people, both are excellent game players, and it was so enjoyable. some of the celebrities they have on the show are so bad it makes it hard to watch."
"Funny story: At a Jeopardy taping in October of last year, an audience member asked Ken about his appearance on Pyramid and congratulated him for how well he did. He told us he had since taped another episode and did not do as well the second time, then swore us to secrecy. I’ve kept the secret until now," expressed a Reddit user who claimed that Jennings had told them about his appearance on '$100,000 Pyramid'. "It was a fun episode of Pyramid all around," said one who seems to have enjoyed seeing Jennings on a different game show, especially in the position of a player.
