One of the biggest mysteries in all of television -- with "biggest" being somewhat arguable -- asks the question "How do so many Jeopardy! contestants go through entire episodes without spontaneously swearing?" Thankfully, recent contestant Vincent Valenzuela proved to be the exception, letting one four-letter word slip out after messing an answer up in an amusing fashion. Check it out!
It's sometimes a little too easy to just blurt out Jeopardy! answers without mindfully making absolute sure the response didn't already appear in the clue. In Vincent's case, that's largely what happened. Instead of going with the correct response, "known associates," his answer only contained the first part, which had already been mentioned. And so, like many of us out there, his immediate reaction was to curse under his breath, but unlike many of us out there, he had a television microphone picking up things said under his breath. And lo, his second faux pas in as many seconds went down, with his "shit" getting bleeped out by the censors.
Unsurprisingly, thejudges did not accept "shit" as a correct response, although the judges have been pretty kind about alternate responses lately. Alas, I guess "shit" can't be finagled into anything resembling a close synonym for "known associates," no matter how hard one wishes it would be so.
Almost better than Vincent's cheesy grin is the one plastered on the face of fellow contestant Bryan Rucker. Check him out on the right side of the video, grinning as if he was behind this masterful scheme the whole time.
The afternoon did not end well for Vincent, either, though a successful Daily Double put him right back into the game ahead of the Final Jeopardy round. Unfortunately, though he initially wrote down the correct response of "Tree Hugger," Vincent second-guessed himself and scratched that answer out, replacing it with "Carl Sagan," explaining that he misread the clue. (Huh?) And I'm pretty sure he wanted to scream out several more swear words at that moment, realizing that he would have won the game had he kept his original guess. But he managed to keep a tight lid on it in those closing moments, and that's the truest victory of all, right? No? Okay, yeah, the victory where you win more money is probably better in this case.
Jeoardy! airs every weekday in syndication, so be sure to check your local listings to see when it's playing in your area next. Check out another totally amazing wrong answer, and how one Jeopardy! contestant landed themselves some free food. And to see what other awesome shows are hitting primetime soon, head to our summer premiere schedule.
