When game show contestants find themselves at the center of a social media frenzy, it usually has to do with them saying something crazy or causing some mini-chaos. Far rarer does one become the butt of a thousand jokes, but that describes the recent reaction to Jeopardy! champion Laura Ashby, whose voice has sparked ire all across the Internet. Find out your tolerance level using the Vine below.
Stage 1: “Okay, the Internet is full of mean-spirited folks that like to pick anything and everything apart for every imaginable flaw. Ashby’s voice can’t be that bad.”
Stage 2: “Oh, I see what’s happening here. All of her sentences do that rising thing at the end. Yeah, that’s pretty annoying, but not really worth the kind of reaction that makes Fox News write a story called “Is This Woman the Most Annoying Jeopardy! Contestant Ever?”
Stage 3: “Boy, she’s the champion, huh? She sure does have to say a lot of categories, numerical values and answers in order to stay a Jeopardy! champion. A lot. You know what, though? That’s fine. She can…”
Stage 4: (Pours glass after glass of water over computer, TV and phone so that voice never enters my home again, and writes letter to mother saying that I’ll never be visiting again.)
Okay, so yeah, I got there. Granted, you put anything on an unmelodic loop and it’s going to drive one crazy, but that was too much. Too. Much. A quick search of Ashby’s name will take you to all kinds of places, especially the Twitter-sphere. Here’s a personal favorite.
She’s probably the first Jeopardy! contestant in history that should specifically be happy that this show doesn’t do its audition process like The Voice. And because one good tweeted turn deserves another.
Can we expect to find a soundalike contestant appearing on Saturday Night Live this weekend for a Celebrity Jeopardy! sketch? We can only hope…not. Now what other forms of hell will Jeopardy! bring to the world next?
