Jeopardy! viewers couldn’t stop yelling at the TV after all three contestants failed to correctly answer the Final Jeopardy! clue on Thursday night.
During the final round of the April 3 episode, the contestants — returning champ Bryce Wargin, Mary Walheim and Alfred Wallace — were faced with the clue:
“Boq is one of these fictional people, ‘Not as big as the grown folk… but neither were they very small.’”
To fans watching at home, the answer was glaringly obvious — given that it was about Wicked, the pop culture juggernaut that went wildly viral with the release of the first film in November 2024. Specifically, the question was related to the Munchkin Boq, who plays a significant role in the Wizard of Oz prequel (and who was portrayed by Ethan Slater in the movie.)
The contestants, however, did not make the connection.
Both Walheim and Wallace appeared to have the same pop culture reference in mind with their responses — though it wasn’t Wicked. Walheim, who wagered nearly $6,000 on her guess, answered “What is a Lilliputian?” Wallace, who wagered $10,000 on his answer, asked “What are lili?” Lilliputians are the tiny fictional characters who appear in the classic novel Gulliver’s Travels.
Wargin was clearly thinking in the same vein, initially writing, “What are Lilliputians?” before crossing it out and answering with “dwarves.”
Though all three contestants were incorrect — the answer is “What is a Munchkin?” — Wargin went on to win the night’s episode with nearly $10,800 in his pocket after wagering $5,201.
Fans at home were incredulous that not one of the contestants caught the Wicked reference and answered correctly.
“Everyone who watched Jeopardy and recently watched Wicked was screaming at their TV tonight… 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣,” one person wrote via X.
“You’re telling me not one contestant on @Jeopardy tonight saw Wicked,” another posted in disbelief.
“My entire household was shouting MUNCHKIN!!! Apparently not one of the 3 saw ‘Wicked,’” a third user wrote.
TheJeopardy! subreddit was also filled with comments.
“Not chronically online me screaming ‘We deserve each other, me and BOOOCKKK’ [sic] at the tv, willing them to get it right!” one Redditor joked.
Redditors also went deeper into The Wizard of Oz lore, with one user noting that had any contestant answered with “The Lollipop Guild” — a featured group of Munchkins who memorably sing for Dorothy in the 1939 film — that answer would likely not have been accepted, either.
“Besides the other answers, the Lollipop Guild was a specific subset of Munchkins, and there were other subsets (e.g. the Lullabye League). So, too specific,” the user wrote.
Wicked — the Wizard of Oz prequel that tells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West — began as a novel by Gregory Maguire in 1995. It soared to new heights in 2003, with the release of the three-time Tony-winning musical. After the book-turned-Broadway show was transformed onto the big screen last year, it received 10 Oscar nominations.
