JEOPARDY! has incorporated Generation Z culture into the game show, and some fans are welcoming it.
Slang-savvy Jeopardy! fans were in for a shock when they tuned into a recent episode of the program.
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Rachel Clark, Erin Portman, and Bryan White were the three contestants who were on Jeopardy!’s Friday episode.
Each player gave their best; Rachel and Erin even came close to having the same score midway through the game.
At a point, Rachel, a director of client strategy from Washington, D.C., was on a roll.
That was until she had her thunder stolen by her competitor Erin, a high school English teacher from Naperville, Illinois.
“Similar to LOL, IJBOL, is short for ‘I Just Did This’,” Ken, 49, said as he read the $1.2K clue out loud that Rachel picked from the Newer Words & Phrases category.
The educator swooped in and answered the clue, stealing it from Rachel, who selected it.
“What is burst out laughing?” Erin said.
Ken gave her the $1.2K since she was correct.
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SAY WHAT
Jeopardy! having a clue derived from Gen Z culture sparked much conversation online.
Members of Gen Z are born between 1997 and 2012.
The discussion kicked off after a fan attached a photo of the Gen Z-inspired clue card on their TV screen, as it showed when it aired, in a post on X, fka Twitter.
“Hello,” the fan wrote in the tweet.
Several other viewers took to the tweet to comment their thoughts on the clue.
“A Jeopardy game I’d stand a chance in,” one fan tweeted.
While some were aware of the phrase, others were baffled by it.
“I have never heard this phrase,” one fan confessed.
Another agreed: “Naaah that’s too complicated.”
DON’T DO IT
Gen Z slang being used on the game show doesn’t seem to be welcomed by everyone.
Ken admitted his kids will not let him use Gen Z slang while on the show in May 2023.
During Jeopardy! Masters week, Ken appeared on morning shows like Live with Kelly and Mark and Good Morning America.
On an episode of GMA, Ken played a little “GMA Jeopardy” while chatting with the hosts.
Each of the questions on the Jeopardy! wall on GMA was all about Ken, as he was meant to answer each one.
The first clue read: “Doing this makes your kids crigne when they watch you on Jeopardy!”
Ken replied straight away: “What is any Gen-Z slang?”
He stifled a laugh as he explained.
“My kids are terrified. You know, I can say ‘Tonight on Jeopardy, I’m gonna go to a contestant and say ‘You’re so real for that, bestie’, and they’re like Dad, do not. I swear, DO NOT do that. Like, I will die if you do that.”
Ken raised his hands to speak, showing how serious his kids are about keeping him from doing such a thing.
George Stephanopoulos laughed as he related to Ken.
“Yeah, I’m not allowed to use ‘slay,'” he said.
The hosts laughed and continued with the segment as Ken answered more questions.
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