'Jeopardy!' contestant teased by Ken Jennings, slammed by fans for missing 'cakewalk' clue: 'Way too easy'

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"Jeopardy!" is known for its difficult trivia questions, but in a surprising twist, fans have deemed Thursday night's Final Jeopardy clue as "way too easy."

Some viewers specifically took issue with the answer that one contestant, a man named Steve, offered for the clue. Fans were shocked that he couldn't come up with the correct response for a question that one deemed a "cakewalk."

Going into Final Jeopardy, Steve was in the lead with $19,100, in second place was Josh with $16,400 and contestant Valerie brought up the rear with $5,200.

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Ken Jennings hosted Thursday night's "Jeopardy!" episode, which was part of the Champions Wildcard tournament. (Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images)

In the category "Word Origins," the last clue of the night read, "Though it meant ‘seasickness’ in Latin, this 6-letter word now refers to a more general feeling of sickness."

As the player in last place, Valerie offered her answer first — she gave the right response, which was "nausea."

Host Ken Jennings told her, "That's correct, it's the same root you see in words like ‘nautical,’ meaning ‘ships.’"

She chose not to wager any of her winnings, which Jennings noted before he moved on to Josh, who also gave the correct answer. His wager gave him $19,105, just $5 more than Steve's amount at that point.

The camera panned over to Steve, who grimaced as it was revealed that he'd answered "malaise."

"Jeopardy!" contestant Steve gave an incorrect response for Thursday's Final Jeopardy. (Jeopardy!/ABC)

"Oh, no," Jennings said before reading off Steve's answer. "He might be coming up with nausea right now."

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The joke got a large laugh from the audience and a chuckle out of Steve, who then showed that he'd wagered $13,701, leaving him with just $5,399, putting him in second place at the end of the show.

Josh was visibly shaken by the turn of events, his mouth hanging open as Jennings announced him the champion of the day. Because of the win, he advanced to the semifinals in the current Champions Wildcard tournament.

"Jeopardy!" contestant Josh, far right, was shocked to learn he had won the game. (Jeopardy!/ABC)

Fans, as always, were quick to discuss the turn of events on social media.

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"Much too easy FJ today," one person complained on X, formerly Twitter.

Another wrote, "come on jeopardy nausea is too easy for final jeopardy."

One viewer took the critique a step further, saying, "My fourth grader got the final jeopardy answer today. That was WAY too easy. I’ve watched 50 years. That was ridiculous."

Host Ken Jennings teased the contestant when he gave a wrong answer. (Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images)

On Reddit, a fan claimed that the clue was the "Easiest final jeopardy in a while," and someone else agreed: "I thought the same thing and was shocked when Steve didn’t get it. I’m not very good at that category and got it instantly."

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Another person added, "Especially since his guess wasn't 6 letters. I thought out could have been queasy as well as nausea."

One comment read, "Wow almost so a huge upset today!!. I had Josh winning easy but Steve had him until he missed that cakewalk FJ."

Ken Jennings has been hosting a variety of tournament episodes for "Jeopardy!" (Raymond Liu)

A Reddit user claiming to be Valerie from Thursday night's show weighed in, admitting that she didn't come up with the correct answer immediately. 

"I started with mare for ‘sea’ and then went to mal, which brought me to ‘malaise,’" she explained. "Thankfully, I was able to move away from that and come up with something else in time."

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"The stress is real. It’s very easy to freeze on stage," wrote another former "Jeopardy!" contestant.