When the "Jeopardy" answer is "Gangsta's Paradise," you'd better pronounce it correctly.
A contestant on the New Year's Day program aired this week learned that the hard way when he lost $3,200 by pronouncing it "gangster."
"A song by Coolio from 'Dangerous Minds' goes back in time to become a 1667 John Milton classic," the "Jeopardy" clue stated. It referred to the song "Gangsta's Paradise" and the book "Paradise Lost."
Contestant Nick Spicher thought he had the right answer when he said, "Gangster's Paradise Lost." Even host Alex Trebek initially announced Spicher was correct, but he had to retract it minutes later.
“Our judges have re-evaluated one of your responses a few minutes ago, Nick,” Trebek told him. “You said gangster’s instead of gangsta’s on that song by Coolio, so we take $3,200 away from you. You are now in second place.”
Fortunately for Spicher, he went on to win the Final Jeopardy category.
He later admitted his mistake on Twitter.
“My first thought was, ‘Didn’t I say ‘gangsta’?’ and I kind of wanted to hear the tape,” Spicher tweeted. But assuming the judges had good reason to make the change, he added “They had every right to call me out on it.”
“And I will be forever proud of the moment Alex Trebek taught me how to say ‘Gangsta,’” he tweeted with a tongue-sticking-out smiley face.
Twitter users were amused by the gaffe.
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