'Jeopardy' Producer Apologizes For Show's Recent Slip-Up: 'We Totally Blew It'

The popular game show accidentally spilled crucial information in the beginning of a recent episode.
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Jeopardy!” executive producer Michael Davies has apologized after the show slipped up at the start of a recent episode and spilled the final scores before the game kicked off.

The blunder, which occurred in an episode that aired on March 9, featured a shot of the contestants’ scores after host Mayim Bialik wished them good luck ahead of the first of a two-part final in the High School Reunion Tournament.

The scores revealed that contestant Jackson Jones won the game although the tournament’s eventual winner was Justin Bolsen.

Davies, during Monday’s episode of the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast, said the show “totally blew it” from the start of the episode and it was a result of a “series of errors.”

“It’s somehow remarkable that they all happened, starting with the decision to pick up the monologue, which was probably the right decision,” Davies said.

He continued: “Although neither [producer] Sarah [Whitcomb Foss] and I can remember exactly what was wrong with the monologue, why we picked it up. But we do occasionally pick up monologues for some reason. Sometimes there’s a fact that’s incorrect. Sometimes there’s just a performance issue. So we pick it up at the end of the show.”

He added that it should be — and is supposed to be — standard procedure for the show to take scores that appear on the podiums “back to the original level” in those cases.

That, he said, didn’t occur.

“This was then not caught in [post-production], and it was not caught in the final [quality control]. There are so many elements that should check this.”

Davies assured listeners that “Jeopardy!” now has a new series of protocols to prevent the slip-up from happening in the future.

He added that when mistakes occur on the show he hopes to uncover what happened and why it happened to ensure they don’t occur in the future.

“And so we live and learn, and we apologize for anybody whose experience of this program was ruined,” said Davies before adding that the growth of the show’s franchise could have played a factor. 

“There is some pressure on this production. We’re making more episodes, people are working more hours, and so that does lead to mistakes. But still no excuse for this. This was too basic. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

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