Posted on 08/04/2013 3:25:36 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
The Newtown Middle School student won $2,000 as the runner-up.
A Connecticut eighth-grader who misspelled the correct answer to a "Jeopardy!" question and lost money over it says he was cheated.
Thomas Hurley III correctly answered the Final Jeopardy question about the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln. But Thomas spelled it "emanciptation" and was ruled out by host Alex Trebek.
He bet $3,000 of his $9,600 in winnings and finished well behind a rival who amassed $66,600.
"I was pretty upset that I was cheated out of the final 'Jeopardy!' question," he told The News-Times of Danbury. "It was just a spelling error."
Don’t worry, schools will soon stop teaching spelling, and you will wonder what the big fuss was about after a while.
The everyone is a winner propaganda produces sore losers like this kid.
I agree with him. I saw that show and when they ruled against him, I remembered many times they allowed for minor spelling errors.
It immediately struck me that he should complain.
Boy, welcome to that harsh thing called, life. Stop being so butthurt over it.
Judging from a few of the threads I am guessing Alex posts here along with the rest of the grammar police.
So he needs work on his spelling and try again next time.
Spelling counts. He lost.
he just wants to be emanciptated from having to learn how to spellk, what’s wrong with dat?
:Weird Al singing: “I lost on Jeopardy... baby...”
If they knew in the rules that words must be spelled correctly in Final Jeopardy, than tough toenails.
Sounds like he had no shot at winning anyway unless his opponent was going to bet $64,000 on the last question.
If he finished 2nd anyway, he would still just get $2,000 so he didn't lose any money in the decision.
I’m going from memory here but I think I’ve seen misspelled answers accepted on Jeopardy.
Unless it has been changed recently that is not the rule. They always allowed minor spelling errors as long as you could clearly tell what they were saying.
I don’t think it would have made any difference in that particular game unless it meant he finished 3rd instead of 2nd.
Not on Jeopardy. They usually accept misspelled answers so long as they can tell what the contestant means.
Was his answer obvious to anyone with a brain? Yes. Should he have been awarded the money that he earned for a correct answer? Also yes. I’m on the kid’s side here.
Yes, I thought spelling didn’t count in final jeopardy.
I believe the rule is that if the misspelling changes the pronunciation it doesn’t county.
Is this another one of thoe kids that have been told since their birth that they are “special” and above all others, will never make a mistake and should be/are given everything?
Perhaps the parents left out humility.
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