Enunciation and pronunciation is important for success on the legendary quiz show, Jeopardy!. However, every so often, a question comes along that challenges the contestants to ditch being proper in favor of some flavor. Nick Spicher, a recent contestant on the show, learned that lesson the hard way.
While he correctly answered the question combining John Milton’s blank-verse poem “Paradise Lost” with Coolio’s 90s hit “Gangsta’s Paradise,” Spicher’s mispronunciation of the word “gangsta” as “gangster” resulted in a $3,200 loss after the show’s judges noticed the flub.
On Twitter, Spicher, who won the game during his episode, wrote that the executive producer of the show told him about his error during a commercial break.
“…since that was my reaction, that of course means that yes, “Gangsta’s” would have been correct,” he wrote. “They had every right to call me out on it.”
So…. they stopped tape at the DD for what felt like an eternity, and then finally the Executive Producer and another person came up on stage to break the news to me. That’s partly why I didn’t have much of a reaction on camera.
— Nick Spicher (@nickspicher) January 2, 2018
My first thought was, “Didn’t I say ‘gangsta’?” and I kind of wanted to hear the tape. But I assume they listened to it quite enough to definitively determine it.
— Nick Spicher (@nickspicher) January 2, 2018
And since that was my reaction, that of course means that yes, “Gangsta’s” would have been correct. They had every right to call me out on it.
— Nick Spicher (@nickspicher) January 2, 2018
And I will be forever proud of the moment that Alex Trebek taught me how to say “Gangsta.”:P
— Nick Spicher (@nickspicher) January 2, 2018
While many people may have seen this as bogus reason for the contestant to lose a decent amount of money, rules are most certainly rules and words most certainly matter.