Alex Trebek has probably seen almost everything a couple of times over his three decades as host of Jeopardy. He's had to do everything from rap TV theme songs to drop Motley Crue lyrics, and he even once listened to a contestant go on a tangent about the sex lives of Japanese men. It must be pretty hard to surprise Trebek on his own show by this point. A young competitor in the Jeopardy Teen Tournament did manage to pull one over on Trebek and trick him into quoting an internet meme. Check it out:
Young Sabrina was faced with a tough question in the final round of the Jeopardy Teen Tournament. The clue referred to the largest structure "made by living creatures and can be seen from space" that also happens to be "roughly half the size of Texas," and she just didn't know the answer. Sabrina was faced with two options: she could either hazard a guess and name a random large structure, or she could do something decidedly more awesome and trick Alex Trebek into mimicking a meme.
In case you didn't get why the giggling started as soon as Alex Trebek read her answer out loud, the joke was a play on the 2015 meme that started when a teen was caught on camera pointing to police officer's rather clunky boots and yelling "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOOOOSE?" The clip went viral, and Youtube and social media were soon filled with copycat videos. Regular Jeopardy viewers may not have necessarily gotten the joke, but the target audience for the Teen Tournament undoubtedly got a laugh out of it.
Unfortunately for her competitors, Sabrina was the first to give her answer in Final Jeopardy, and they were totally upstaged by her response. They weren't helped by the fact that they got the clue wrong as well. Both suggested that the Great Wall of China was the largest structure made by living creatures; neither seemed to even consider the Great Barrier Reef as the answer. Sabrina came in last when it came to money won, but I'd say she came in first when it comes to stealing the show.
For some context as to why Sabrina went with "What are those?" in her final Jeopardy response, check out the original meme:
Alex Trebek didn't seem too amused by the meme, but at least he didn't call her a loser like he did with another recent contestant. Honestly, the clip would probably be a lot less amusing if Trebek insulted a teen girl. He's gotten himself into hot water with how he sometimes responds to kids on Jeopardy in the past; luckily, he didn't seem too upset by the unexpected silliness.
Take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule to see what non-Jeopardy shows you can catch on the small screen in the near future, and continue on to the next page to see a compilation of some of the best "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOOOOSE?" clips ever.
