JEOPARDY! fans have slammed Thursday's "sleepy" Mayim Bialik-hosted game.
A "record-low moment" even occurred, but two-day winner Jeff shook viewers up with his "tear-jerking" story.
Mayim, 46, is hosting Jeopardy! for her sixth week after Ken Jennings' recent stint and his announcement he'd be out for "months."
The permanent hosting slot is said to be decided by the end of Season 38 in July 2022.
Jeff Weinstock - a marketing lecturer from Miami, Florida - won his second game and $17.9K with $29.2K total.
But fans couldn't ignore the "sleepy" display and what they claimed was a "record low" shocker.
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RARE & ROUGH EVENT
Tonight, there were a massive 15 Triple Stumpers - meaning no contestant buzzed in with the correct response - the purple-blue stage was largely filled with silence throughout.
As Mayim stood with a smile, indeed, one-fourth of total clues (61) went unrewarded as fans were floored by the lack of right guesses.
In one awkward display, two contestants got wrong responses and Mayim said "no" to both, turned to right podium's Andrew, and he simply put up his hands and shrugged.
“This is rough,” one fan slammed on Twitter.
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“Are these people awake?!” wrote another.
“Lots of no responses today,” wrote a third.
Though Jeff - who ousted Megan Wachpress last night - made off with 18K from an impressive "true" Daily Double.
"GUTSY True Daily Double!!!" one fan wrote on what may have been the game's only move of note.
Final Jeopardy was also a Triple Stumper and no one got it.
"Has to be a record for unanswered clues," one more Twitter user claimed on the wildly low figure.
As even one more fumed, "Wow...lots of crickets from tonight's #Jeopardy contestants."
However Jeff, who won tonight's game with enough of a lead going into FJ regardless, had fans buzzing instead for his deeply moving Q&A story.
'SUCH A TOUCHING STORY'
Mayim wondered about something during the Q&A portion about Jeff's first game the night before.
"You made a very specific gesture, you touched your chin when we got to you in Final Jeopardy, do you want to tell us what that means?" the actress pried, touching her own chin.
"Yeah, three times," the bespectacled newcomer corrected.
"My late mother was very sick for a long time.
"And I took care of her for years and we used to watch Jeopardy! every night and I said 'mom, remember how Carol Burnett used to pull on her earlobe?'"
"And tell her grandmother that she was okay? I promise you when I am on Jeopardy! someday I'm going to do this," he said gracing his chin three times for good luck.
"And only you will know that this is for you."
"So, tell my mom I'm okay."
Mayim was nearly speechless and said: "That is really special" adding before a long pause, "Let's get back into the game."
Fans loved the sentiment as one tweeted on the otherwise shockingly rough one, "Root against Jeff I DARE YOU"
Another tweeted in reply, "After his story who can?"
A third wrote, "Such a touching story."
A fourth gushed, "Jeff won my heart I gotta say."
And a fifth, "That IS really special. Bravo, Champ. Not a dry eye in the house."
HOST BATTLE GETS HOT
Ken and Mayim began filling in for the legendary Alex Trebek after his tragic 2020 passing and a fleet of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts, including now-disgraced Mike Richards.
The fact that the hosting slot is still undecided has earned quite the debate, as the late Alex had hosted since 1984 - a new host could be announced any day.
The show's ratings nearly doubled to 9.7M viewers when Ken made his first appearance.
When Mayim took over her hosting duties the headcount dropped to 5.9 million viewers during a college championship and indeed, she hasn't bested Ken's ratings since during Season 38.
Mayim was a front-seat passenger for Ryan Long's recent 16-game streak - as many players said he was their "favorite contestant ever," he similarly shared a Q&A story that gave Mayim "chills" about spending more time with his son.
But while fans have found Mayim to be a perfectly palatable presence, hundreds have tweeted about her off-putting poise during the typically enjoyable Q&A shares.
Mayim, who studied neuroscience, replied to one contestant's beautiful autism testing Q&A story with a joke: "Glad to hear spitting in a tube went better than taking blood," she bluntly said.
Mayim had another joke that flatlined with fans - she insulted a doctor by saying he was "just an anesthesiologist, not a surgeon" while making a claw motion with her hand.
She also recently made an off-color joke about marijuana and seemed to misunderstand the legacy of the band Queen during the savored storytelling segment.
Fans have also found Mayim to be slow with simply ruling responses correct or not in general during gameplay.
One Twitter user wrote on Mayim's hosting hesitancy, "She's laggy, I think often it's because she's waiting for cues from the producers, but someone said it might be due to her being edited a lot.
"The thing about Ken he actually knows the answers...because he's that guy."
“I'm handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months," the fan-favorite surprisingly tweeted in May, adding, “We are lucky to have her! I'll be back before the end of the season.”
Since then, Mayim has also faced fan fury when a player's signature was ruled too sloppy in FJ though she had seemingly written "Harriet Tubman."
And last night - though not the actress-turned host's fault - there was ironically a typo in Final Jeopardy just days after the spelling snub which couldn't have come at a worse time.
Canadian tattoo-toting tutor Mattea Roach, beloved rideshare driver Ryan, Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, weatherman Eric Ahasic, "$2 titan" Megan - all from this wildly streak-wielding season - will compete in the Tournament of Champions in November.
Mattea - whose run ended the day before Ken shared his podium pause - stated afterward they wanted Ken to take over.
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"As a contestant, there is something really special about being on stage with the greatest player of all time," Mattea told Vulture.
Jeff will go for win number three tomorrow night - Jeopardy! airs at 7 pm ET on ABC.
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