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Fans rooting for Jeopardy! champ Ben Chan were up in arms after his ten-day winning streak was over, all because he misspelled the correct response
Wisconsin philosophy professor Chan first appeared on the TV game show in April but had to step away from his series of victories due to catching COVID.
He resumed being on a roll winning nine games, but it ended there when he incorrectly responded to a clue under the category, “Shakespeare’s Characters.”
The clue read:
“Both of the names of these 2 lovers in a Shakespeare play come from Latin words for ‘blessed.'”
Retired museum educator Lynn Di Vito with whom Chan was neck and neck at the time incorrectly answered, “Who are Romeo and Juli” (Juliet).
The correct answer was “Beatrice and Benedick” from Much Ado About Nothing.
Chan had it in the bag. Sort of.
But instead of jotting down "Benedick," he wrote "Benedict.”
Chan had wagered $12,201 and when the judges refused to budge, his total dropped to $5,199 where it was unfortunately game over for him.
\u201cLynn doesn\u2019t finish spelling \u201cJuliet\u201d yet it\u2019s ruled as a complete (albeit incorrect) response, and Ben misspells Benedick by one letter and is ruled incorrect. Clearly they knew what he was going for and yet ended his run on a terrible technicality. #Jeopardy\u201d— Not Mark Wahlberg (@Not Mark Wahlberg) 1684884866
Fans rooting for Chan were furious over the decision to end his reign.
\u201cAwful ruling against Ben Chan on tonight's #Jeopardy\u201d— Dani (@Dani) 1684886237
\u201cSince when does being off by one letter count in final jep? There's no other character he could have meant. #jeopardy\u201d— David Peterle (@David Peterle) 1684884655
\u201cThe thing I hate about #Jeopardy is if Ben had said that response he would have got it correct, but writing it was wrong. The inconsistency has always bugged me.\u201d— db (@db) 1684884633
\u201cI am beyond disgusted with @Jeopardy!! They\u2019ve never penalized anyone for wrong spelling, yet they chose to penalize 9 game winner Ben Chan in Final Jeopardy and cost him the game..He missed ONE LETTER!! This is so wrong!!! #Jeopardy #BringBackBenChan\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth) 1684886334
\u201c@CNN I don\u2019t understand, in the final jeopardy question spelling doesn\u2019t matter\u2026 it still sounds the same\u2026\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1684962256
\u201c@CNN Utterly ridiculous and unfair.\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1684962256
\u201c@CNN He should not have been ruled wrong\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1684962256
\u201c@JaRaNo1128 @Jeopardy Shameful. How about a ruling by the judges. Ben should be the winner.\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth) 1684886334
\u201c@JaRaNo1128 @Jeopardy Just disgusting, I\u2019m so pissed off.\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth) 1684886334
\u201c@JaRaNo1128 @Jeopardy Ben was the best contestant Jeopardy has had since Matt. Ridiculous.\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Jamie\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 #JusticeForMalkiRoth) 1684886334
Chan weighed in on a Reddit debate over the legitimacy of his loss and said he stood by the judge's decision.
"Benedict; is incorrect," he wrote.
"The character's name is Benedick. As Ken (presciently) noted on my first episode, there is no partial credit on Jeopardy! (Yes, I was sooo close!)"
He also said the blunder could be blamed on "bad flashcards," and he added:
"The 'Benedict' misspelling is common, and it worked its way onto a couple of my flashcards."
Chan also wrote on Twitter:
"Soooo... if we could go back in time, maybe the judges could have okayed 'Benedict' as a historically acceptable alternative form of the name."
"But they wouldn't have to because I'd just write the indisputably correct response: 'Benedick.'"
\u201cSoooo... if we could go back in time, maybe the judges could have okayed "Benedict" as a historically acceptable alternative form of the name. But they wouldn't have to because I'd just write the indisputably correct response: "Benedick"\u201d— Ben Chan (@Ben Chan) 1684954603
This won't be the last time fans will see Chan on the game show.
He is expected to advance to the 2023 Tournament of Champions.