JEOPARDY!'s Ken Jennings has riled up fans with what they called his most offensive on-stage opinion ever.
The host said he "resolved the controversy" about putting pineapple on pizza and declared the topping "delicious."
Reigning champion Cris Panullo faced Etienne Lepine, a software engineer from Lafayette, Colorado, and David Stiasny, a pediatrician from Highland Park, Illinois.
David buzzed in under the category "A Pineapple" for $200.
Ken, 48, read: "A BBC article headlined 'Pineapple on' this said, 'it's the food of choice that seems to divide the world."
The contestant correctly responded "What is: Pizza."
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Ken then turned to the camera with a shrug: "Yes, pineapple on pizza. And I can resolve the controversy, it's delicious."
David visibly recoiled in disgust from the middle podium, sticking out his tongue in regurgitation.
Jeopardy! cooked up a meme and wrote to Twitter: "Controversy solved."
Game show fans and food lovers however were not so satisfied and piled on their distaste for Ken's declaration.
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'HELL NO'
"All credibility Ken Jennings had is just disappeared," one fan wrote.
"One piece of advice - DO NOT, under any circumstances, go into Little Italy (Arthur Avenue) in my home borough of The Bronx, and ask for a pineapple pizza. Just DO NOT," panned another.
"No it's not," roasted a third. "Pineapple and ham do not in any way belong on pizza. Not even in Hawaii."
A fourth defended: "It's Canadian, lol. Inspired by sweet and sour Chinese food! And it's delicious, Ken's right."
As another agreed: "Respect - if you don’t like it don’t eat it."
Though a fifth wrote: "Ugh, just lost a lot of respect for you Ken! and sixth shared a close-up of David's visceral reaction: "David seemed unconvinced…"
A seventh person wrote: "Petition to permanently replace Ken with Mayim now and forever for this egregious crime."
Recent Jeopardy! winner and priest David Sidley buzzed in and joked:
"All this time Ken seemed like such a nice man and then he drops bombs like these mid broadcast without folks able to respond righteously."
FOOD FIGHT
It's not the first time Ken's culinary taste has gotten him fan backlash.
Last month Ken posted a photo of Cretor's cheese and caramel mix popcorn on Twitter.
He wrote alongside it: "Chicago pizza and hot dogs are so good that we just give them a pass on their abominable popcorn."
One follower raged: "Ken, this might be your most offensive tweet. Chicago popcorn is incredible."
Another added: "Um, no. we call that stuff crack in our house. One handful and you are immediately addicted. Damn you, Costco, for selling it."
A third posted: "Ooooo you're soooo wrong...just wronger than wrong can be. This is AWESOME."
Cris, a customer success operations manager from Ocean City, New Jersey with a professional poker past, has won game after game since coming to the table in early fall.
After five weeks of tournament play and immediately after Amy Schneider won the 2022 Tournament of Champions, he returned to win his 12th game.
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Co-host Mayim Bialik, 46 - now handling the Celebrity Jeopardy! spinoff - is expected to take over the reins in January.
Over the summer, Ken and Mayim were officially announced as the permanent replacements of the late Alex Trebek.
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