Jeopardy is defending itself after fans of The Beatles took to social media to criticize one of its clues. As it turns out, you should probably trust the popular quiz show when it comes to trivia. You should also pay close attention to the wording of its questions. On the March 27 episode, the winning question came down to which music group had produced two No. 1 hits inspired by "heavy workloads" within seven months of each other, in the 1960s. The correct answer is The Beatles. Host Alex Trebek then identified the two songs hinted at in the clue as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Eight Days a Week." Beatles fans called foul at the idea of "Eight Days a Week" as a song about a heavy workload.
Fans may be singing a different tune, now that the series has relayed the story behind the love song and its yearning-filled lyrics. Speaking to MONEY, Jeopardy explained that Paul McCartney was inspired to write the song after talking to a taxi driver, who said he had been working "eight days a week." Jeopardy did not stop there, saying it may not have been McCartney's experience that set the song in motion.
There are also stories that Ringo coined the phrase with a similar backstory, but either way, it seems to be a pretty fairly worded clue.
That explanation may not be good enough for everybody. Some fans took to social media to share their outrage over what they deemed a mistake on Jeopardy's part, and they didn't hold back:
Other social media users had similar responses...
To be fair, the baffled reaction of fans makes total sense. Love is constantly mentioned in the song, and there is no mention of the singer being tired from work. Nor does the lyricist mention not being able to spend time with his beloved because of his job. However, Jeopardy said the songs were inspired by the subject of heavy workloads, not written about them. That is the key difference fans are missing, and Jeopardy often hones in on those little intricacies.
The real story here isn't necessarily about what "Eight Days a Week" is about. Beatles fans are correct that it is a love song, but the lyrics were inspired by the heavy workload endured by the aforementioned cab driver. Given this, we can probably surmise he did not get a chance to spend a lot of time with his significant other, hence the love song expressing his desire to love her "eight days a week." Did the contestants who answered The Beatles know this bit of trivia? Or did they get the right answer for the wrong reason? It is unclear.
Now imagine if social media did not exist. It would have been next to impossible for Jeopardy producers to have been made so readily aware of the complaints surrounding the clue. Thankfully, social media offers a space for trivia fans to air their grievances and the mystery has been solved, paving the way for another inevitable controversy surrounding the show. After thirty-four years of the version hosted by Alex Trebek, Jeopardy still has it. For more viewing options, be sure to check out our midseason TV premiere guide and our summer TV premiere schedule.
Of course, this is far from the first time something related to Jeopardy has gone viral. Contestants have married each other, tragically died before their episodes have aired, told really uncomfortable stories, pissed off the state of Alabama and done just about everything else in between. After all, it's the greatest gameshow of all-time. It deserves to be in the news every now and again, even if its producers sometimes make infuriating decisions.
