Newtown eighth grader Thomas Hurley III was chosen as a contestant for Jeopardy!’s “Kids Week” where he competed back in February, with the show airing this month. Hurley went into the third and final round with the correct answer, but was quickly shut down after he spelled the answer incorrectly. The 12-year-old is now saying he was “cheated.”
Hurley went into Final Jeopardy where he would find the question to “Civil War” News Times reports. Hurley quickly wrote down his answer, “Emancipation Proclamation” wager $3,000 of his $3,600. Host Alex Trebeck quickly commended Hurley on his correct answer before realizing that the eighth grader had actually spelling “Emancipation” with an extra ‘T.’ He was docked points for a wrong answer, but not before Trebeck pointed out the “badly misspelled” word.
“It's generated a little bit of controversy," Hurley's mother, Suzanne, explained noting Jeopardy’s official Facebook page. "He was a little stunned by it. He felt embarrassed. It was hard to watch.''
"I was pretty upset that I was cheated out of the final `Jeopardy!' question. It was just a spelling error,'' Hurley adds.
Ultimately Hurley took home $2,000 and the second place title against Skyler Hornback, who Trebeck praise for his “correctly spelled” answer.
Suzanne believes that Trebeck owes her son an apology.
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