Ken Jennings mocks Jeopardy! contestant T.J. Tallie by 'pretending he was incorrect' before his big

KEN Jennings has briefly misled a Jeopardy! contestant into thinking he was wrong on Monday's episode.

T.J. Tallie was convinced three different clues were referring to the late actor Heath Ledger before winning a big $20,000 payday.

Ken, 49, is hosting the Champions Wildcard tournament from Seasons 37 and 38 instead of regular episodes.

T.J., an associate professor of African history from San Diego, California, faced Jay Foster, an engineer from Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and Sarah Reza, a museum program manager from Hyattsville, Maryland.

The former one-day champ found the first Daily Double in the Jeopardy! category "The Jokers."

Each response in the category asked for a different actor who has played the Batman villain.

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The $400 clue in the same category was chosen soon after, and for a second time, T.J. was incorrect with "Heath Ledger." - "Agh!" he yelled.

The $200 clue was the only one left in the category, and selected shortly after.

A full-scale photo was shown asking the contestants to guess the late Heath Ledger.

The audience began chuckling immediately, and Ken read: "His final role was as Tony in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus in 2009.”

Tony shouted for the third time: “Who is Heath Ledger!”

Ken told him: “No I'm sorry, that's not correct,” as everyone laughed.

“Yes, it’s Heath Ledger,” Ken quickly amended as the crowd applauded and T.J. looked like he was close to having a villain origin story.

'I WILL NEVER FORGET HEATH LEDGER NOW'

T.J. went on a tear in Double Jeopardy; while Sarah missed a $4000 Daily Double he picked the last one up in his wheelhouse of "African History" and around 13 correct responses of the round's 30 clues.

Ken applauded him for “putting on a clinic today” going into Final Jeopardy.

T.J. wound up with a runaway at $20,600, Sarah had $6,000, and Jay $4,800.

Final Jeopardy! under "DRIVING THE USA" read: "It’s the state with the most miles of Interstate highway, more than 3,200; one Interstate accounts for 1/4 of that mileage."

Only Sarah was correct with Texas, but T.J. wagered just $600 to drive to the semifinals with $20,000.

TJ wrote on Reddit: “I will never, ever, ever forget Heath Ledger now ;)”

He also had to admit in the thread: "I have never hated a category more than Shakespeare rewrites the Beatles."

One fan commented: "Loved how you played today. Retro good luck for the rest of the tournament!"

WHAT IS: CHAMPIONS WILDCARD?

Jeopardy!'s 40th season premiered on September 11 and runs until late July 2024.

However, the game show looks a little different this season as there haven't been any new contestants.

Champions Wildcard is the second past-player tournament this season; it's invited back a massive 108 past players (including the three winners of the season-opening Season 37 Second Chance Tournament).

Each leg of the special features nine quarterfinals, three semifinals, and a two-part final.

Then, the slate is wiped clean, with each leg running for three weeks.

There will be four winners by the time Champions Wildcard ends on December 18.

The purse is four $100,000 prizes and a slot in the 2023 Tournament of Champions.

Contestant Josh Saak became the first of four winners last week, and the event is now in its second group of quarterfinalists.

The 2023 Tournament of Champions, where last season's stars like Cris Pannullo and Hannah Wilson await, begins on December 19.

WHERE IS: MAYIM BIALIK?

Fans may want to know when Ken's counterpart, Mayim Bialik, 47, will be back.

Ken is hosting has hosted the entire season solo, and Mayim is not involved as it stands.

She bowed out as a member of Saf-Aftra, a big shakeup since she and Ken were tapped to split hosting in 2022 after Alex Trebek's tragic death.

Mayim has expressed little interest in hosting during Hollywood's turmoil and she hasn't been involved since last May.

"It’s not for me to personally judge anyone else’s decision [but] I am a union supporter," Mayim told Vanity Fair last month in her first public statement.

"There’s a lot of complexity to this, but my general statement is always that I come from a union family."

Mayim's absence has also put a more overarching issue into the forefront: many fans prefer Ken alone as the host.

"[Mayim] is unwatchable with none of the personality that Ken brings to the show," a fan recently wrote on X.

"Love Ken Jennings, I Hope & He The Only Host Going Forward!" another post read.

A third recently posted: "It Takes More Than Being Smart To Host Jeopardy. The Powers That Be Should Announce They Were Mistaken To Hire Hollyweird To Host Jeopardy."

Mayim's return date to the show is still unknown, but it will likely not be until new contestants return- which isn't anytime soon.

WHEN WILL: 'NORMAL' EPISODES BE BACK?

Jeopardy! redid its schedule when deciding to continue despite Hollywood's Strikes (and a lot of backlash).

The game show threw in the currently airing placeholder tournaments, not knowing how long the strikes would be.

Since the Season 40 premiere last month, Jeopardy! has using old clues and clues that were previously written but never aired.

This was a way around the WGA strike since Jeopardy! was without its writers; the WGA strike was resolved last month, so that's why there are also only past players.

Showrunner Michael Davies defended on the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast that it “wouldn’t be fair to have new contestants making their first appearance” on the show with material that isn’t original or that was written pre-strike.

"The material that we’re gonna be using is a combination of material that our WGA writers wrote before the strike, which is still in the database and material that is being redeployed from multiple, multiple seasons of the show.”

As a result, there will be little room for new contestants or "normal episodes" this season.

This 2023 ToC will be longer than in years past and feature its own Second Chance competition, another Champions Wildcard, and finally, the actual ToC.

Execs explained the overhauled timeline on the podcast, admitting tournament play is the "Number one priority" and "We will have 16 weeks of regular episodes at the end of the year."

That means we won't see new contestants until April, with just four months of regular play this year out of 11 months.

Not all fans are sold on the big change, as one recently vented: "I am sick of the current tournaments. BRING BACK REGULAR PLAY, PLEASE!"

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