23 Wrong "Jeopardy!" Answers That Are Totally Hilarious

Being a contestant on Jeopardy! is anything but easy. There's the live studio audience, the race to beat the clock, and, oh yeah, the insanely tricky questions. But perhaps most nerve-wracking is the fact that there's a chance you could embarrass yourself on national TV by answering a question ridiculously, hilariously wrong.

Personally, we're glad people are willing to take risks with their responses on Jeopardy!⁠ Because when it comes down to it, incorrect answers are part of what makes this show so great. To prove just how silly Jeopardy! can get, we've rounded up the best worst answers in the show's history.

The clue for this one was, "By the 4th Century A.D., Rome had 28 public ones stacked with rolls of papyrus."

Of course, it would have been lovely for the Romans if they had invented toilets in the year 300s. Unfortunately, the flush toilet wasn't introduced until 1596. The correct answer here was, "What are libraries?"

Not everyone's a geography wiz, but most of us know the difference between a city and a state. That wasn't the case for one contestant, though. When faced with the clue, "It's the southernmost city in the 48 contiguous states," she responded, "What is West Virginia?"

Not every Jeopardy! contestant is great at sports trivia. Given the clue, "100+ assists in an NHL season has been accomplished only 13 times, 11 times by this player," one contestant chose a player from an entirely different sport.

"We're talking about hockey, not the NBA," quipped Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. The correct response was, "Who is Wayne Gretzky?"

When shown an image of the pasta that's pictured above, contestants on Celebrity Jeopardy! were given the following clue: "The name of this pasta, similar to penne, means 'little mustaches.'" Journalist Wolf Blitzer responded, "What is fettuccine?" Any Italians in his life would be disappointed.

Ken Jennings had the longest-running winning streak in Jeopardy! history. He also had one of the all-time classic wrong answers. The clue was, "This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker." The correct answer was, "What is a rake?"

Jennings' answer? "What is a hoe?" The response elicited a startled "whoa!" from Trebek and another question: "They teach you that in school in Utah, huh?"

This contestant may not be up on the latest albums, but she's clearly got an ear for branding. Given the clue, "Beyoncé & Jay-Z released the album Everything Is Love under this collective name," she did not give the correct answer, which was "Who is the Carters?" (the last name of the two megastars). Instead, she created a portmanteau to come up with her own answer, which was "Who is Bey-Z?" A pretty good guess, we must say.

Alongside the picture of the pink flower that's shown above, the contestants were given this Final Jeopardy clue: "The flower pictured here is called this, also a disparaging term for people on the political left." The correct response was, "What is a bleeding heart?" But one contestant opted for an unintentionally harsh reply: "What is a pansy?"

A contestant on the teen installment of Jeopardy! didn't know the answer to the Final Jeopardy question, but he did know he was going to win the game regardless. When given the clue "On June 6, 1944, [this person] said, 'The eyes of the world are upon you,'" in the category "Military Men," the contestant wrote: "Who is some guy in Normandy. But I just won $75,000!"

In case you were wondering, the correct response was "Who is Dwight D. Eisenhower?"

Competing on the college edition of Jeopardy!, MIT student Lilly Chin was enough ahead of her competitors that she could bet $0 on the Final Jeopardy question and still win. That meant she could also guess whatever silly response she wanted.

The clue was, "Astronomer who began his epitaph, 'I used to measure the heavens, now I shall measure the shadows of Earth.'" The correct response was, "Who is Johannes Kepler?" Chin responded: "Who is the spiciest memelord?"

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In the category "16th Century Names," the Final Jeopardy clue was: "Paul III roared at him, 'I have waited 30 years for your services. Now I'm Pope, can't I satisfy my desire?'"

The answer was "Who is Michelangelo?" But one stumped contestant guessed, "Who is Lady Godiva?" The risky response made Trebek laugh, which, honestly, is almost as good as winning the game.

For the Daily Double, one contestant was asked what "Selenophobia" was a fear of. The correct answer (the moon) wasn't obvious, and so she did some free-associating and came up with: "What is the fear of Mexican music stars?" Clearly, she was a Selena fan.

The Final Jeopardy clue in this episode was: "Not an actor, he is the highest-paid foreign-born personality on the 2007 Forbes list of top television earners."

The correct answer was, "Who is Simon Cowell?," which one of the three contestants got right. The other two responded, "Who is Alex Trebek?" To their credit, Trebek is indeed Canadian-born.

When given the Final Jeopardy clue, "His 2003 People Magazine obituary was headlined 'Fade to Black,'" one contestant wrote, "Who is Chris Farley?" This might not seem like a terrible guess at first—but it seems pretty far off when you consider that the category was "Music Legends."

Under the category "Work On It," the clue was, "If you like short workdays, just sitting on this critter for 8 seconds can gain you fame with the PBR."

A caterpillar was an odd choice, considering sitting on that particular critter would definitely end its life. For the curious, PBR stands for Professional Bull Riders, and the correct answer was, "What is a bull?"

During the head-to-head between two of the show's biggest champs, Jennings and Brad Rudder, and IBM's Watson supercomputer, the contestants were given a Final Jeopardy clue about a United States city: "Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second-largest, for a World War II battle."

Both humans got the correct answer, which was Chicago. But in a rare sign of uncertainty for the machine, Watson, who had been dominating the entire game, guessed "What is Toronto?????" Unfortunately for his competitors, Watson bet less than $1,000, keeping him comfortably in the lead. Still, he could use some brushing up on his North American knowledge.

When the Final Jeopardy category is "Hymns" and the clue is "A Christian hymn and a Jewish holiday hymn are both titled this, also the name of a 2009 Tony-nominated musical," it's a safe bet that the correct answer doesn't have the word "kinky" in it.

However, that didn't stop one contestant from responding, "What is Kinky Boots?" Fortunately, he had enough of a lead to win the game anyway. The correct answer was, "What is Rock of Ages?"

The clue was, "Spring training baseball in Florida is known as this league." And the correct response was, "What is the Grapefruit League?" Unfortunately, one contestant unintentionally slammed all of Florida by responding, "What is the Bush League?"

According to SBNation, "Bush League is something that's said in baseball, but it's mostly when it's referring to a smaller league or sometimes to consider something subpar. Maybe he was thinking about former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who was governor of Florida. It's an easy Freudian slip."

When given the Final Jeopardy clue, "This song from a 1999 animated film about censorship had a word censored from its Oscar performance," contestant Talia Lavin wasn't sure of the answer. (It's the song "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut). Instead of taking a guess, she opted to make a reference to Saturday Night Live's ongoing Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch, responding with: "What is the love ballad of T*** Ferguson." For good measure, she added a "p.s. hi mom ☺."

For a Video Daily Double, in the category "Starts with a Body Part," a contestant was shown an image of a chinchilla and given the clue, "The fur of this rodent is said to be 30 times softer than human hair."

Visibly struggling to think of a rodent with a body part in its name, the contestant offered the response, "What is a titmouse?" To his credit, a tufted titmouse is a type of songbird (that's a picture of one, above).

The clue was, "If Andy yearns for Brenda and Brenda cares about Charlene who pines for Andy, the three of them form one of these."

The correct answer was, "What is a love triangle?" But one apologetic contestant guessed, "What is a threesome?"

In the category "Asian Nations," contestants were given this clue: "The Chao Phraya, this country's main river, flows to the gulf named for the country." One contestant's response? "What is Mexico?"

In the category of "3+3" (two words, each with three letters), Trebek read the clue, "A hired killer." Plenty of viewers who were watching from the comfort of their living rooms shouted "hit man" at the screen. But, under the pressure of those studio lights, one contestant gave it some thought and responded "hot gun." Definitely a misfire.

In this 2014 episode, the Final Jeopardy clue was, "In 1891 this European said, 'Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses.'" Even if comedy writer Ari Voukydis missed the correct response, which was "Who is Alfred Nobel," he had confidence to spare. On his card, he wrote, "This handsome gentleman," complete with an arrow pointing to himself. And for more silly stuff, check out these 55 Funniest Jokes So Silly They're Guaranteed to Brighten Your Day.

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