Jeopardy! pits contestants against one another in a serious battle of wits to win cash prizes.
While that often forces the contestants to take things as seriously as possible, there is occasionally an opportunity to lighten the mood.
And This Jeopardy! champion left everyone in stitches after he gave one of the worst answers in game show history.
Jeopardy! contestant leaves everyone in stitches by spelling out an answer
The second season of Jeopardy! Masters is underway, bringing back some of the long-running game show’s most successful contestants.
James Holzhauer, Yogesh Raut, Matt Amodio, Victoria Groce, Mattea Roach, and Amy Schneider are competing for a $500,000 cash prize and the Trebek Trophy.
In the first episode of the tournament, Holzhauer had his fellow contestants and the audience giggling with his answer to a question.
“The last name of botanist Leonhard gave us this word for a type of flower & a shade of reddish purple,” host Ken Jennings said, reading the question.
Holzhauer buzzed in and gave the answer, “fuchsia,” and proceeded to spell it out.
Then he used the answer to crack a joke.
“What is F – U – C,” Holzhauer said before pausing and starting off prior to finishing the answer.
“H – S – I – A,” Holzhauer added with a grin.
Jennings told him he answered the question correctly.
“Gotta be careful with that fourth letter,” Holzhauer remarked.
That caused the audience, as well as his fellow contestants, Yogesh Raut and Amy Schneider to laugh.
Jeopardy! fans weigh in online
Jeopardy! fans on social media were also laughing at Holzhauer’s quip.
“I laughed [at] that one I can’t stop [laughing at] what James said. Haha!!!” one user wrote.
“Tonight’s show was hilarious,” another user added.
One fan of the show realized that they had been spelling fuchsia wrong their entire life.
“Today I learned I’ve been spelled fuschia [sic] wrong my whole life,” the user stated.
Holzhauer draws a laugh from Ken Jennings
As Jennings introduced the Jeopardy! Masters contestants, Holzhauer remarked that he was the “final boss” of the tournament.
“You feel like to win Jeopardy! Masters it’s going to have to go through you?” Jennings asked.
“That is how a final boss works, Ken,” Holzhauer quipped.
“What do you mean by that?” Jennings asked him.
“I’m the main event,” Holzhauer replied, which caused Jennings to burst out into laughter.
“We’ve got five openers, and then it’s you,” Jennings replied.
“You’ve beaten the Goombas. Now it’s time to beat Bowser,” Holzhauer said, referencing the villains in the Super Mario Brothers video game franchise.
Holzhauer finished that second game behind Raut, who picked up both of the Daily Doubles in the Double Jeopardy round.
He won the inaugural Jeopardy! Masters last year and is trying to defend his title.
But this year’s competition could be a harder lift for him.
“I think this year’s field is even tougher,” Holzhauer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Newcomers Yogesh and Victoria are world-class quizzers.”
Holzhauer, who was a professional sports gambler in Las Vegas, has the second-highest winnings in Jeopardy! history behind Jennings.
He’ll have his work cut out for him if he wants to win another Jeopardy! crown.