[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the December 23 episode of Jeopardy!]
Some Jeopardy! fans were not entertained by cameos from Nosferatu stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp in the Monday, December 23 episode, calling their promo for the film during the second round of the game “tiring.”
Hoult and Depp read clues for “The Cinematic Vampires” category in the Double Jeopardy round. The category featured clues about the Interview With the Vampire 1994 movie starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, Kate Beckinsale‘s Underworld, Kathryn Bigelow‘s Near Dark, Catherine Deneuve‘s The Hunger, and the original Nosferatu. Hoult and Depp star in the 2024 remake of the classic vampire tale, which hits theaters Christmas Day, hence the reason for their virtual visit to Jeopardy.
This isn’t the first time Jeopardy! has partnered with a film studio to help promote a movie, but fans on Reddit weren’t too pleased with the cameos. Some said these promotional partnerships are “tiring,” while others said it felt that the actors didn’t seem excited to be filming the clues.
“These upcoming movie ad categories are really tiring tbh,” one Reddit user wrote. As another replied, “And, per usual, the length of the clues means we don’t finish DJ and this time left a lot of cash on the board! I like Hoult, but both he and Depp appeared to be really miserable about reading these clues aloud, like someone was torturing them and forcing them to do it under duress. No offense intended to the players, but this was a dud of a game.”
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One Reddit fan said the show is misunderstanding what fans want out of the show’s special guests. “Remember, Davies thinks the viewers like having celebrities laboriously read overlong clues that destroy the pace of the show and help result in leftovers,” a comment reads. “He thinks the celebrities are doing us a favor by agreeing to do it, not that the show is doing them a favor by allowing them to do it.”
One fan had an idea for how to improve these categories so they’re not “duds.” “They really need to punch them up if they’re gonna keep doing them,” they wrote. “Make them shorter and spiffier. Also players could intentionally choose those clues last?”
Outside of this category, fans were still disappointed with this episode, which featured returning player Laura Faddah and newcomers Jenifer Miller and Sean Maguire.
“The sponsored category aside, that was just a brutal DJ board in terms of difficulty,” one viewer said. “If anything, all the unrevealed clues today come from the amount of triple stumpers, and I was right there with the contestants on most of them — a lot of the $1,200 to $2,000 clues felt like TOC, JIT, or Masters level cuts. Edit: OK, looking back, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit in terms of difficulty, but a lot of those clues seemed to have a very one-path ‘know it or you don’t’ style, and it just felt weird.”
“What I wonder after an episode like this is, do the producers and writers acknowledge that it was a bad show in terms of entertainment value, and try to address the reasons it was bad so it doesn’t happen again?” one viewer questioned in response. “Or do they think it was just fine?”
Laura became a three-day champ in this episode with a final score of $13,200. Sean placed in second with $4,187, and Jenifer finished in last with -$2,000. What did you think of the episode? Was it a “dud”? Let us know in the comments section, below.
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