Following a contentious ruling on the popular quiz show “Jeopardy!,” viewers are calling for revisions to the “Final Jeopardy!” format. The controversy arose due to contestant Rishabh Wuppalapati’s answer, which many believed to be unreadable.
In the episode aired on October 16, 2024, Wuppalapati, a University of Pennsylvania undergraduate student from Vernon Hills, Illinois, provided a response in the “Final Jeopardy!” round that many viewers said looked like “Cdumlacf”.
The “Final Jeopardy!” clue asked contestants to identify the common name of two cities that host Southeastern Conference schools in disparate states. The correct response was “Columbia.”
Host Ken Jennings announced during the show, “He wrote down Fayetteville & changed it to Columbia, and I can read every letter. That is correct,” confirming Wuppalapati’s answer.
The ruling led to Wuppalapati’s second sequential win, increasing his total winnings to $42,402 with an addition of $9,801. His primary competitor, Rachel Cassidy, lost the chance to overtake him when she wagered minimally during the second Daily Double.
Further fueling the controversy, Wuppalapati preemptively declared, “I can read every letter,” before the official ruling, leading some viewers to perceive this as an attempt to sway the judgment.
The decision to accept Wuppalapati’s scrawled response has drawn criticism from fans, with some questioning the legibility of his answer. One viewer expressed skepticism about the writing spelling “Columbia,” but nevertheless accepted the decision, echoing Ken Jennings. Another viewer conceded that while the writing could be perceived as “Cdumlaq,” it contained the essential components of “Columbia.”
Some viewers noted that the final decision wasn’t solely Jennings’ call, as judges scrutinize contestant responses in real-time. The incident has prompted renewed appeals for the introduction of a keyboard format in place of handwritten responses in Final Jeopardy to avoid similar future controversies.
Contestant Rachel Cassidy later stated that there was no behind-the-scenes dispute about accepting Wuppalapati’s response. However, this hasn’t alleviated viewer concerns about the equitable evaluation of handwritten responses.