Aaron Rodgers has done a nice job as the host of Jeopardy! The future Hall of Fame quarterback is doing his best to honor the legacy of Alex Trebek while simultaneously making very clear that he’d love to be able to step behind the podium full-time some day, even if that means hosting the show while he’s still in the midst of his NFL career.
One skill that Trebek had down that Rodgers seems to have in his bag is the ability to navigate choppy waters when things get weird on the show. He did this on his first episode when he got roasted during Final Jeopardy, and later in the week, a misunderstanding the contestants had about the way a question was written led to one of the more awkward moments we’ve seen on Jeopardy! in some time.
The category: History Potpourri. The dollar amount: $1,600. The question: “In 2015 Congress authorized payments of $4.44 million to each of these people, $10,000 for each day of their captivity.” All three of the contestants took this as the United States giving money to people in an attempt to wrong a right from the country’s history. Instead, this happened.
This is art pic.twitter.com/f3URQSgEFM
— Jeremy (@jeremythunder) April 7, 2021
There is a big ol’ conversation regarding the many bad things that have happened in the past in the U.S. which have never been and need to be addressed (ex: all of the things the contestants said) that is appropriate in the aftermath of this clip. Jeopardy! doesn’t (rightfully) fancy itself as one of those places to have that conversation, so Rodgers deftly moved right on to the next question.
