JEOPARDY! fans accused all three contestants of making "terrible" final wagers on Tuesday’s episode.
Host Ken Jennings had even urged them to "wager carefully" before each one seemingly did anything but, shocking viewers.
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Returning champ Kendra Westerhaus faced Blaine Smith, a writer and communications consultant from Portland, Oregon, and Laurin Bell, an executive assistant from Lakeland, Florida.
Kendra, a licensed psychologist from Pocatello, Idaho, took out popular two-day winner Mira Hayward to become the new champion.
Kendra emerged with a two-day total of $47,000.
But fans could not believe how Final Jeopardy played out and felt she risked sticking around.
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Worse yet, they accused the wager from second place in the all-important last round especially didn't add up.
'WAGER CAREFULLY!'
Going in, a very interesting situation was at hand.
Kendra had exactly twice Blaine’s score - she had $17,600, Blaine had $8,800, and Lauren had $5,000.
Even host Ken Jennings, 48, admitted this wasn't your average rodeo.
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He advised: "The math is interesting today, make your wagers very carefully."
Under "Arts & Science" the clue read: "A craft that visited it was named for Giotto, based on the story that 680 years earlier, the painter depicted it as the Star of Bethlehem."
Ken first turned to Lauren, who bet her entire $5,000 from third place, and went down to $0.
Ken then turned to Blaine and reminded him he had "exactly half" of Kendra's score, hinting he had to go all in.
If he did, they could have gone into a special tiebreaker bonus round if they had the same scores.
Instead, Blaine oddly bet $8700 instead of with $8800, leaving $100 out - he was also incorrect.
And finally, Kendra bet $0 instead of $1 or more which made that tie-breaker scenario extremely likely if he were right (and bet correctly).
Kendra was the only one correct with "Haley's Comet" - but the wagers left fans all scratching their heads on Reddit.
They felt Kendra's best bet would have been anything but $0, as that left the tie possible - but Blaine truly blocked himself out of a tie by going with less than everything - It just didn't track.
'TERRIBLE BETS'
One user wrote in a bothered thread as everyone got the scratch paper out: "Some interesting Final Jeopardy wagers today! I know it’s easy to play armchair contestant but none of those three wagers are what I personally would have done."
Another said: "Blaine - bad Final Jeopardy wager. You should bet it all when faced with this exact situation."
"Mathematically, it made no sense."
A third agreed: "I can’t think of any rational reason for Blaine’s bet. Maybe going for second place?? But given the enormous difference between 1st and 2nd that’s such a bad reason.
Also, the only reason he ended in second was that the third-place player made her own irrational bet."
A fourth fan also agreed as everyone was doing the math: "Kendra's zero wager was not a good one, in fact, it is a massive risk.
"Because she risks a tiebreaker, her chances of winning diminish significantly.
"Remember ties now are settled by tie breakers so that should be avoided at all costs. And tiebreakers favor the challengers.
"For Kendra, the correct wager should have been $1 as it gives her the highest probability of a win.
"But since she's the only one with the correct Final Jeopardy, at least it can be forgiven.
"But if Kendra's was bad, the other two wagers were terrible."
KEN'S LAST WEEK FOR A WHILE
Over the summer, Ken and actress Mayim Bialik were announced as the replacements for the late longtime host, Alex Trebek - who helmed the show starting in 1984.
Alex tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 80 in 2020, leaving huge shoes to fill, and it took two drama-filled years to fill them.
Mayim hasn't been seen on the regular show this season - she's only handled Celebrity Jeopardy!.
But she is about to be, and for a while.
Mayim will finally be back behind the host podium starting on February 20 with a High School Reunion Tournament.
After that, Mayim will continue to host the regular show, as execs earlier announced, and host Ken may be off until next September or at least for the foreseeable future.
The quiet consensus is that fans are not emotionally ready for Ken to go - since only he has hosted the past five months and many have gotten quite used to seeing him up there.
"Producers will watch the ratings drop considerably beginning February 20th" one wrote in a vicious recent Facebook thread.
"Keep Ken Jennings!" begged another harsh critic as another agreed: "Ken needs to stay."
"I will go on vacation then!!" a fourth even planned. "She is unwatchable" mocked a fifth critic.
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A sixth defended the change: " So, let me get this straight..all you so-called Jeopardy! lovers don't watch the show for the game, knowledge, and interesting contestants? You only watch for who is reading the questions??"
In the meantime, Ken will still be on-air - hosting the new Jeopardy! Masters spinoff, which is scheduled to air during the spring in primetime on ABC.
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