Things are a bit of a mess in England right now, and not even Jeopardy! can keep up with all the drama. The English government has been thrown into chaos in recent weeks following a series of scandals and resignations in the Conservative Party, currently in leadership of the island nation.
Earlier in the summer, prime minister Boris Johnson resigned following a long list of scandals. In his place, the Torys put forward Liz Truss to lead the government. It was nothing short of a disaster, with an economic plan that cratered the economy and the value of the pound, and contributed to increasing inflation. Faced with enormous pushback, Truss resigned after just 50 days, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom. The next closest person on the list, to give you some context here, died in 1827 of tuberculosis after 119 days in office.
Her resignation late last week sparked a rushed search to find a replacement and will make Rishi Sunak, the new Tory leader, the nation’s third prime minister in just months. It’s a lot to keep track of, which is perhaps why everyone blanked on Truss’s name when it was an answer on Monday’s Jeopardy! game. Appearing in the “News Makers and Writers 22” category of the show’s second round, the question was in context of the late Queen Elizabeth’s final public act before her death in September.
liz truss lasting less than the time between jeopardy! tape and air (and no one guessing her) is so embarrassing lmaoo pic.twitter.com/7bvNe0nsal
— vic (@vicnamese) October 25, 2022
“Queen Elizabeth II’s last appearance was to appoint this woman as the 15th prime minister of her majesty’s reign,” host Ken Jennings asked three contestants in the show’s Second Chance Tournament. Which would mean this episode taped sometime after the death of Queen Elizabeth and before Truss resigned last week. It’s amazing that the show managed to future-proof the question a bit so she’s not mentioned as the current PM because that would have been amazingly incorrect just weeks after the episode taped.
It’s small, but it’s yet another slight that Truss has to deal with now, with Jeopardy! viewers knowing her fate as PM has already been sealed well before this question made it to air. What’s worse, no one could come up with her name on the show despite it being very recent news at the time of taping. Which means that, until the sun explodes and civilization is finally put to bed, Liz Truss will be a great answer to a very obscure set of trivia questions. Maybe Jeopardy! can mention the infamous head of lettuce that outlasted Truss next time she comes up, too.
