The most recent episode of the fan-favorite game show Jeopardy! is drawing backlash online as the result of a “tasteless” crew. The episode included actors John Michael Higgins, Wil Wheaton, and Joel Kim Booster as guests for the “Celebrity Jeopardy” event. Unfortunately, things became unexpectedly dark due to an opening category featuring the letter “A” in the responses.
Specifically, the “tasteless” clue was the following line: “In 2021, fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long & toothy critters.” The answer to this question just so happens to be, “What are alligators,” though it’s hard to focus on that when the question itself is so peculiarly written.
As you can see below, here are some of the complaints over this “tasteless” Jeopardy! question and how many viewers have been feeling as a result:
What a tasteless Jeopardy clue yesterday: “In 2021, fugitive Brian Laundrie ended his days in Fla’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long & toothy critters.” There are literally over 1 million ways to get to “What is an alligator?” #jeopardy #truecrime
— Afraid of the Dork 🤓 (@Afraid_of_Dork) November 15, 2022
Celebrity Jeopardy has lost it with this Brian Laundrie question. pic.twitter.com/EWGtTZPA9n
— Neely P (@Neely711) November 14, 2022
Wtf @Jeopardy a Brian Laundrie question? Tasteless. #CelebrityJeopardy
— rhonda (@rhonda_marie) November 14, 2022
Celebrity Jeopardy has lost it with this Brian Laundrie question. pic.twitter.com/EWGtTZPA9n
— Neely P (@Neely711) November 14, 2022
I was mortified to be watching Jeopardy and low and behold they asked a casual question about alligators referencing Brian Laundrie! Oh Mayim. Oh Jeopardy! 🙄 What incredibly poor taste. I’m sure her parents would be thrilled to turn on the tv to see this on a game show!!???
— VJR (@Pienbudnme64) November 14, 2022
One of the worst answers ever tonight, @Jeopardy .
The Brian Laundrie one showed a complete lack of class and total disrespect.— michael broderick (@mikenesto) November 14, 2022
For those unfamiliar with Brian Laundrie, he killed his fiancée Gabby Petito in August 2021. The two were traveling the United States together beginning on July 2, 2021. However, Petito soon disappeared just one month later in August. Brian Laundrie was considered a person of interest not long after he drove Petito’s van back from Wyoming to his parents’ house in North Port, Florida. However, he refused to speak about Petito’s whereabouts and police issued an arrest warrant after Laundrie began making withdrawals with Petito’s debit card. However, he was soon reported missing on September 17.
Then, on September 19, Petito’s remains were discovered in Wyoming. It was revealed that she had been killed by manual strangulation. Furthermore, Laundrie was discovered during an extended search near his Florida home. His remains were found in the aforementioned Myakkahatchee Creek area after he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He confessed to having killed his fiancée in a nearby notebook. As such, it’s understandable that Jeopardy! viewers would be alarmed by such a question and concerned for the potential friends and family of Petito watching the show.