‘Jeopardy!’ producer defends stunning ruling that dethroned champ

A “Jeopardy!” producer is staunchly defending their controversial Oct. 13 ruling that eliminated Lawrence Long from the Champions Wildcard tournament.

Long, the Season 38 champ, was in the “Final Jeopardy!” round and wagered his entire $10,000 in the “Royalty” category, buzzing in on the clue: “Before his death in 2005, he said he was ‘probably the last head of state to be able to recognize all his compatriots in the street.’”

Long answered “King Rainier,” which was deemed incorrect. The answer should have been “Prince Rainier III of Monaco,” producers said.

Show host Ken Jennings agreed. “Unfortunately, Monaco does not have kings, so we cannot accept that,” he said.

Many of the show’s fans thought Long’s answer was thisclose to being correct and that he should’ve been cut a break for subbing “King” instead of “Prince.”

“I feel bad for Lawrence,” one fan commented on YouTube. “This was a little hard for me to watch.”

Said another commenter, “If Lawrence just wrote ‘Rainier,’ would that be considered correct?”

“We stopped down taping,” “Jeopardy!” producer Sarah Whitcomb told the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast. “We were looking for any reference … [to] a ‘King Rainier’ … to start backing up a case for why it could also be accepted – but we couldn’t find anything.”

“That was the hardest part,” Whitcomb added. “When Lawrence said, ‘So if I had just said “Rainier,” would I have been correct?’”

“It’s a tough ruling .. it’s the right ruling,” “Inside Jeopardy!” host Buzzy Cohen chimed in. “Everyone wants, when someone’s in the spirit of the right answer, we want to give it to them, but rules are rules.”

“Jeopardy!” airs weekdays on ABC at 7 p.m. ET.