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‘Jeopardy!’ Fans React to ‘Annoying’ Final Question Response

Originally posted on TV Insider | Last updated Apr 9, 2025 9:15 PM ET

Jeopardy! fans are debating a response that happens a lot during Final Jeopardy that many of them find “annoying.” Most of the time, when it happens, it is the only answer they give.

“Enough already with ‘Hi Mom’ on FJ responses,” a Reddit user said. During Final Jeopardy, some contestants write “Hi, Mom,” or Hi to their spouse/kids, etc. under their answer to the clue, or sometimes if they don’t know it, they just write, “What is hi mom?” or “I love you (spouse’s name).”

“The personal shoutouts on FJ responses are getting obtrusive and annoying. Rules need to be changed to either nothing but a legit response on FJ or allow or require personal notes on all other responses. E.g., ‘What is Europe? Hi, mom.’ ‘What is James & The Giant Peach? My favorite book in 1st grade,” the original poster continued.

The Final Jeopardy question is the only one that is written out, so it is the only time, except for the interview round, that the game show contestants can do shoutouts.

“I noticed that Ken [Jennings] has just been ignoring them when the outcome of the game is still in question, which I think is the right move,” one fan responded.

“It has become more prevalent since I imagine future contestants see current ones writing their little greetings. With that said, I have no issue with it and would probably do the same if I were going to be on the show. With rare exceptions, Ken doesn’t read them out loud so it doesn’t affect the show at all,” another wrote.

“Yeah, I believe they should only do that if they intentionally wager very little or $0. If it’s a very competitive game and they wager a lot of money, they should probably use the entire 30 seconds to think of their best response instead of using some of that time to think of which person they wanna give a shoutout to, in my own opinion,” one fan offered.

However, some fans disagreed with the original poster and said they didn’t mind it.

“Well, where else besides the contestant chats are people going to thank/greet their families/relatives? I don’t really care for it anyways, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal,” a Jeopardy! fan said.

“I really don’t see the problem. Nobody’s getting hurt. No one is taking up half the show to tell a story. There’s nothing wrong with it. Honestly, it’s kind of cool. Your support system is a big reason. You’re on that stage in the first place after all. Nobody can do it alone. That’s just straight up discouraging,” wrote another.

“I think it’s nice/cute,” said one last fan.

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This article first appeared on TV Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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