Alex Trebek is a legendary game show host, but even the greats make mistakes every now and again. That was the case on Thursday’s Jeopardy! when he accidentally congratulated a fictional cartoon rabbit for winning the trivia game show.
Jessica Babbitt, the current Jeopardy! champion, is doing well enough to get her own video on the show’s Twitter page.
Jessica knew her #royals!
@RoyalFamily pic.twitter.com/wPqysCmCnd
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) March 13, 2020
But one thing you won’t see on the official Twitter feed is Alex Trebek congratulating “Jessica Rabbit” for winning. The mistake happened on Thursday’s episode, which was Babbitt’s second win of her run. Upon winning the game, Trebek called the champion the cartoon character from Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?
“Jessica Rabbit, you’re gonna wrap up the week with us having earned $46,598,” said Trebek.
He immediately caught himself, and Babbitt herself laughed, so it was all in good fun. But it was also the second name he goofed on in the episode, as he mispronounced Dewi Harjanto’s first name as well. He corrected himself then, and did so here as well.
“And your last name is not ‘Rabbit,’ it’s ‘Babbitt,’” he said. “This is not my day for names.”
What makes this so charming is just how good Trebek often is. The host studies each question before going on, and clarifies pronunciation for all the questions in the five episodes the show tapes each day. He’s even known to write a Jeopardy! category or two, so seeing him transpose “Babbitt” with “Rabbit” here is pretty funny. No one seemed to mind too much, and Trebek was quick to poke fun at himself in the show’s final moments.
“This is Alex ‘Rebek’ saying goodbye until tomorrow,” Trebek joked.
