The producer of the hit game show Jeopardy! has apologized after the outcome of a recent episode was shown before any of the clues had been given... oops!
The long-running show first hit screens back in 1964 and unlike any other quiz show, the contestants are given clues and they must give their answers in the form of a question.
Over 8,000 episodes of the show have aired without any issues, and given that producing the episodes should be second nature by now, mistakes are few and far between.
But as is usually the way, with comfortability comes complacency, and the producers of a recent episode of the hit show made a pretty big blunder that ended up giving a huge spoiler for the rest of the program.
During an episode that aired on March 8, a shot of the contestant's final scores popped up on screen before the game had even begun, which was a pretty big spoiler.
After the host, The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik, welcomed the contestants and wished them luck, viewers got a glimpse of the scores which saw Jackson Jones gaining $24,000, while Justin Bolsen’s tally was $13,570 and their competitor Maya Wright’s score came in at $3,370.
Given that this blunder meant that any excitement about the show was all but gone, executive producer Michael Davies has apologized for the mishap.
Appearing on the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, Davies began: "Right off the bat, apologies to the audience, we totally blew it."
The producer explained that a series of errors had led to the mistake, and despite an episode having to pass through a number of checks before it makes it to air, nobody had noticed the blunder.
The team has now put in a new series of protocols to ensure that this mistake doesn't happen again - which presumably involves somebody watching the episode.
"We live and we learn, but we apologize to anyone whose experience of this program was ruined," Davies added. "We take these mistakes to heart so hard."
The executive producer concluded: "There is no excuse for this. It’s too basic and we are going to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
In November last year, the show came under fire for using a clue referencing Gabby Petito's death - a 22-year-old who was murdered by her fiancé in a widely publicized case.
The question posed to the contestants was: "In 2021, fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long and toothy critters..."
The answer being "what are alligators," it certainly seems like a different question could have been posed to get to the outcome.
Some viewers were left furious at the "insensitive" question, with one person penning that they would never watch the show again.
Watch the clip from the episode below:"You lost me on that Gabby Petito murder reference. It was insensitive to her family and other abuse victims. Unfortunately, I will never watch the show again. Shame on all involved in this production," a person responded to the show's official Twitter account.
Let's hope the popular game show goes without controversy for a while.
