'Jeopardy!' Host Alex Trebek Surprised By Contestant's Never-Before-Seen Behavior

On Monday night, those who tuned in to watch the new episode of "Jeopardy!" were met with an unexpected response from returning champion Sarah Jett Rayburn during the trivia show's final question. The unusual occurrence not only stood out from other episodes of the show, but also surprised host Alex Trebek.

The recent episode marked the first time in the show’s history that a contestant ever explained their Final Jeopardy answer when Rayburn incorrectly answered a question about the Civil War. During the segment, she responded with General Grant versus the correct response of General McClellan.

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After incorrectly answering the prompt, the contestant then asked if McClellan had, in fact, been what the question had been looking for. After Trebek said yes, she began elaborating on why she hadn't gone the intended route.

"I wasn’t sure… I second-guessed myself on that one a little bit," Rayburn said, before adding, "Sorry, I shouldn’t be talking now.”

To that, the host replied, "No, that’s fine, you can talk now! There are people who are watching who are saying, ‘Why didn’t she put down McClellan?’ And you just explained, it was your second guess."

However, Rayburn continued to explain why she had chosen the wrong answer, saying that she was "afraid" and reasoned that Grant seemed like a safer option. After she stopped herself yet again, Trebek quipped, "Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed something that never happens on our program: an explanation of why the contestant wrote down what they did."

The moment can be seen below.

The recent answer followed other noteworthy responses showing up on the show in recent months, including one that exhibited an eerie nod to the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and another that made Trebek become emotional due to the kind sentiment that it contained.

As for "Jeopardy!" itself, the popular game show has kept the attention of fans for a variety of other reasons over the course of the past year. Not only did the program make a noticeable change due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but Netflix also added certain episodes to its streaming service as well.