It looks like Alex Trebek‘s game show hosting career was in serious Jeopardy recently — and we had no idea!
According to the latest leaked emails resulting from the Sony hack, the longtime Jeopardy! host had a bit of a standoff with producers over an incident during Kids Week that had a little girl running backstage in tears.
[ Video: Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek Messes Up In The Form Of A Question! ]
Apparently the contestant ended in the red at -$1400, making her ineligible to compete in Final Jeopardy.
How did Alex break the news? Well, in quite the usual way. He said:
“We have bad news for you, because you’re in the negative situation, it means you won’t be around for Final Jeopardy, but you’ll automatically pick up $1000 for a third place finish.”
According to the emails, this sent the poor girl crying backstage.
Many regular viewers may not have viewed Alex’s behavior as insensitive — or even noticed — but the contestant’s mother was not happy.
She apparently wrote to Sony, saying that Alex should have comforted her afterward:
“If he had taken the time, he would have known, like you do, that my daughter is not a sore loser, and does not become emotional solely over losing a game. She was upset about not being able to completely play the game to the end. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for that.”
It didn’t seem to us like Alex acted badly.
Apart from what you see on camera, the host is actually legally required to sequester himself from the contestants to avoid any appearance of impropriety, something the contestants are made aware of early on.
Well, Alex didn’t think he did anything wrong either.
When producers asked him to come in and retape his comments to the contestant, he fired back with an angry response that seemed to be a building for quite some time! He wrote:
“If you all think I should retape the opening, I will. But I want to say that for 30 years I’ve defended our show against attacks inside and out. But it doesn’t seem to operate both ways. When I’m vilified, corporate (and certainly legal) always seems to say ‘don’t say anything and it’ll blow over,’ and I’m not feeling support from the producers, and that disappoints the s**t out of me…
If I’m making mistakes and saying things you don’t like, maybe it’s time for me to move on. It’s not a threat, but I want to let you know how I’m feeling.”
Wow! We can’t believe he almost left the show over this!
According to the email chain, the dispute between Alex and the producers did eventually blow over.
Do U think Alex was being insensitive? Watch the incident play out for yourself around 17:20 in the video (below):
[Image via Sony Pictures Television.]