Contestants have historically fumbled the football category on "Jeopardy!," so host Alex Trebek decided to take matters into his own hands — literally.
Back in February 2018, a "Talkin' Football" category was featured on "Jeopardy!," with disastrous results. The contestants, hilariously, didn't correctly guess one clue, leaving the host to reach peak agitation on live television.
This is the face you make after clue No. 1 when you realize you're in for a long category.
He proceeded to rib the contestants, dryly commenting, "I can tell you guys are big football fans."
After the second clue — nobody knew that Tom Landry perfected the Shotgun formation with the Dallas Cowboys — Trebek tried to give them an out: "Should we go to commercial?"
After four clues in a row with no responses, Trebek went to the fifth clue without hope.
He went to commercial telling the audience, "We're gonna take a break. I have to talk to them."
Another football category disaster occurred in 2017 when not only did the contestants fail to name any football teams, but also one contestant went so far as to name the Colorado Rockies — you know, the baseball team.
This time, Trebek took no chances with the contestants. He designed the entire category himself, calling it "Football" and basing the clues off referee signals.
"Jeopardy!" posted a video of the beloved host, side by side with the clues he created in his handwriting.
The clues are all referees' signals, which Trebek also gamely acted out while reading.
Here are Alex's doodles from yesterday's FOOTBALL category, which he helped develop!
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) March 11, 2020
ICYMI: https://t.co/Wo9N8TIreE pic.twitter.com/vVvVnTVhPp
The contestants nailed three out of five clues, and just over half is definitely an improvement from previous years. They missed the signals for "fourth down" and "too many men on the field," but got "touchdown," "holding" and "false start."
With Trebek's recent pancreatic cancer scare, whether he will be able to continue hosting "Jeopardy!" has come into question. It's nice to see him taking an active approach with the contestants and clues, and showing how much he still loves the show.