Jeopardy! is in some hot water with some fans who felt an oddly-phrased question SHOULDN’T have been allowed to MAKE IT TO AIR.

Jeopardy! is in some hot water with some fans who felt an oddly-phrased question about James Bond shouldn’t have been allowed to make it to air, and they’re letting their thoughts be known in the comments section. The famous Jeopardy! model, of course, phrases answers as questions, making players have to backtrack to come up with the correct question to the answers provided.

In a recent episode, the Final Jeopardy clue was worded as such: “The last 2 best song Oscar winners whose titles were the same name as the movie they were in had this man in the leading role,” and while two players managed to guess that the answer was “Daniel Craig” (from the James Bond films), some fans felt the question was too oddly-worded and shouldn’t have been allowed.

Jeopardy! fans flooded social media to complain about a recent James Bond clue.

On Jeopardy‘s YouTube page, a commenter named @nh0522 wrote that the question took too long to answer, saying, “The question took me a minute to understand, it’s worded very confusingly. But once I did, I realized it must be the James Bond movies,” while another commenter, @donhailer4994, shared that the comma made all the difference in this wording, saying, “This was poorly phrased. I assumed they were asking about the last 2 Best Song winners: 2024 and 2025. The strength of the comma!”

Another YouTube commenter, @teelink204, wrote that they weren’t sure how to answer, saying, “I wasn’t sure if they wanted Daniel Craig or James Bond. The last 3 Bond themes have won the Oscar, but the Song from Spectre that won was called ‘Writing’s on the Wall’.”

On Jeopardy‘s post on X, a commenter named @pquijote557 wrote, “A very confusing clue. It took me more than the ‘think music’ time to even figure out what it said. I finally realized it wanted the name of the actor. Good thing there’s a pause button! (I still didn’t know the answer, though).” Another X commenter, @vhsloop, wrote that the question was just challenging enough, saying, “The question did seem unusually challenging, highlighting how diverse knowledge expectations can impact contestants’ performance and audience reactions.”

And yet another X user, @mgweissman, felt they could have rephrased it, saying, “All they [had] to do was phrase it as ‘The last 2 Best Song Oscar winners whose titles were the same as the movie had this man in the leading role.’ The phrase ‘they were in’ was completely superfluous and just overcomplicated a pretty simple question.”

What Fan Response To Jeopardy!’s Complicated Phrasing Means

Fans Have Opinions On Jeopardy!

Social media has given the viewing public more chances to have their say on what happens on their favorite TV shows, whether it’s good or bad. Everyone has a platform now, and that means that people can freely share their thoughts on the things that make it to air.

The concept of Jeopardy!‘s answers-as-questions model is already somewhat confusing but makes the game show even more entertaining to watch. By using this oddly-phrased question on the Ken Jennings-hosted game show, Jeopardy! opened itself up to criticism from fans.

Our Take On Fan Response To Jeopardy!’s Confusing Question

Fans Are Allowed To Air Grievances

By speaking up about the poorly-worded prompt, Jeopardy! fans are letting producers know that they’re watching, and they aren’t afraid to call foul if necessary. It’s a nice way for audiences to communicate with production, and it allows the long-running show’s producers to take the temperature of the public and make changes as needed.

This isn’t the first time fans have let their feelings be known about a turn of events on a TV show, and it certainly won’t be the last. For a show like Jeopardy!, which has been on the air for over 60 years, fans probably see it as a point of pride to be able to outsmart them, or to correct them when necessary, like in this case.

Still, two out of the three Jeopardy! players managed to guess the question in the James Bond round, so perhaps it wasn’t worded as oddly after all.

Jeopardy! airs weeknights. Please check your local listings for time and channel.