Clueless ‘Jeopardy!’ Contestants Thought Diana Ross Was 95, and the Internet Is Furious

It’s one thing to get a Jeopardy question wrong. It’s quite another to get a question so wrong that you end up insulting the legacy of a living legend. On Monday night, a pair of Jeopardy contestants fell into the latter category when they thought the one and only Diana Ross was 95 years old.

The tragedy took place during the last category of the night: “Singers.” “In 2021 at age 95, this singer achieved a Guinness World Record for the oldest person to release an album of new material,” host Ken Jennings asked. Then chaos reigned.

Finn Corrigan, the defending champion who was in second place, was the first to make the mistake and guess Ross. But the night was young. Karen Johnson, who was in first place before the question was asked, also made the same mistake. “To be fair, you’re only 75 years younger than Tony Bennett,” Jennings teased Corrigan. “Generationally, it’s a bit of a stretch.”

Only Margaret Chipowsky knew the truth. After guessing Tony Bennett, she won the night with $18,800. But those thousands of dollars also came with our respect. You can watch the drama unfold here.

Naturally, the internet had a field day with this mixup. There was some expected anger:

Some wondered what Ms. Ross would do once she found out about this error. Others simply fretted over the state of the world:

There was even an apology. Contestant Karen Johnson took to Twitter to tell Ross that she was sorry and emphasize that Jeopardy is hard:

But the best tweet from this online drama came from the one and only Tony Bennett:

Though both Johnson and Corrigan got the answer wrong, they weren’t too far off. The great Diana Ross is currently 77 years old, making her almost two decades too young to fit this question. But she does have a history with The Guinness Book of World Records. In 1993, Ross was named the most successful female music artist in history in the U.S. and UK.

But the Guinness World Record for oldest artist to release an album with new material belongs to Bennett. This year, Bennett released Love for Sale, his second collaborative album with Lady Gaga. The album and their rendition of “I Get a Kick Out of You” are currently nominated for five Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Music Video. It’s time we all read up on our living legends.

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