"Jeopardy" fans found themselves stunned Tuesday night after all three contestants failed to answer a question asking them to complete a line of the Lord’s Prayer, the most widely recited prayer in Christianity.
The puzzle, worth $200, read, “Matthew 6:9 says, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven,’ This ‘be thy name.’”
Contestants Suresh Krishnan, Laura Blyler and Joe Seibert stood in silence, with none of the three attempting to fill in the blank, until host Mayim Bialik revealed the answer: “Hallowed.”
The moment went viral, with viewers on Twitter expressing their shock at the contestants' inability to answer a seemingly common-knowledge question.
“Tonight’s Jeopardy contestants were just asked to fill in this blank: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, ______ be thy name,’” one user tweeted. “None of them even took a guess. I’m really surprised — I thought that would be an easy one!”
“How can those Jeopardy! nerds not know this answer. Have they never listened to Iron Maiden?” another wrote, referencing the 1982 heavy metal song “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
Some self-proclaimed conservative Twitter users also appeared to express outrage.
“Not one contestant on Jeopardy last night knew the answer to this.....” wrote one user, whose tweet garnered more than 5,700 likes. “Are you waking up yet?”
Another tweeted that the incident demonstrates “how sad our country is becoming”:
“They asked the question about the lords prayer. Neither of the three contestants got it,” they wrote. “That is very alarming. My gosh the most simplest prayer people need to get back to the Bible.”
A survey of 4,200 adults last year by consumer analytics platform CivicScience found that although a substantial number of young people are tuning into the show, more than 60% of regular "Jeopardy" watchers are older than 35.
And compared to older generations, young adults in the United States — as well as around the globe — have been less likely to subscribe to religion in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center. The number of Christians in the U.S. has also declined sharply over the past decade or so.
Some viewers suggested that they or their friends could have successfully answered the question, even as atheists.
“Dangit. Even my atheist friend knew this,” a user tweeted. “Goodness.”
“I’m an atheist and even I knew the answer to that lord’s prayer question,” wrote another.
