Mayim Bialik on What Happens During Clue Mistakes on Jeopardy!

Even the Jeopardy! crew needs extra time to answer a question sometimes. 

When the show needs to figure out if a contestant’s alternative answer is acceptable, it takes a whole lot longer than they make it appear on TV.

“We sometimes shut down for close to an hour over one decision,” host Mayim Bialik said on the Wild Ride! with Steve-O podcast. “You don’t see that. Any episode where we correct someone’s score, like ‘The judges have ruled that mahogany is also an acceptable tree that begins with M’ or whatever it is, that usually means we’ve shut down for like an hour.”

Because an instance like that can “change the course of the game,” Mayim argues, the process is very official. 

“There’s a lawyer on set all day. A lawyer from standards and practices,” she revealed. “Imagine going to law school and you get placed sitting on Jeopardy!. They just sit and make sure that everything’s kosher.”

Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to us!