Hosting a game show might seem like an easy task - just reading off some questions and revealing if a contestant has the correct answer or not - but it is a lot more than that, and much more challenging than you might think. The smallest things a host does can affect the outcome of the game, and that's something Mayim Bialik has learned during her time filling in behind the podium at Jeopardy.
The actress has been sharing hosting duties with Ken Jennings for the past few months and has faced an uphill battle, dealing with critics of her wardrobe, her word choice and her persona in general. She's also struggled a bit with the show itself. Last month, she ruled a contestant incorrect too early, even though the contestant was correcting their answer at the time. Producers stepped in and awarded that player the points Bialik cost them. Well this week, it happened again.
After hearing the clue, "From a Latin word for 'to clock,' it's the type of care given to seriously ill patients to provide comfort without curing," a contestant named Andie Huskie buzzed in and said, "What is pallative care?," but then corrected his answer to "palliative care" before time was up, but as he did, Mayim was already ruling his response as wrong.
Twitter was upset by the move, writing things like, "That was ridiculous. Clearly started to correct before she ruled," and, "I was scratching my head on that one. Totally answered in time," and, "I feel like Mayim was a bit quick on the incorrect, not giving Andie much chance to self-correct."
Once again, the producers seemed to agree with the audience and in the middle of the show, when another contestant hit a Daily Double, Mayim held up the game to announce their ruling. She stated, "We have a score change and Andie, it affects you. The judges have reviewed your response, and you corrected your response of ‘palliative care’ before I began to rule you incorrect. We will be adding $4000 to your score. That puts you in the lead."
This pleased fans who shared their glee on Twitter writing, "Thank God for the judges. Mayim was way too fast to rule Andie wrong there," and, "Glad the judges overruled Mayim's hasty 'NO.'"
The mistake doesn't help Mayim's standing with some of the Jeopardy fanbase, who seem to really dislike her. Among the comments following the show were, "Response time was all over the place today. Two seconds maybe seven, who knows," and, "WHY IS MAYIM STILL HOSTING!?! PLEASE BRING BACK KEN JENNINGS!!"
Those fans will be happy to know that Ken is rumored to return on July 18th to host the final two weeks of the season. As for Andie, sadly, he finished the game in third place.