It’s an exciting time at Jeopardy!, both on-screen — where Caleb Groen is the latest superchampion trying to become one of Jeopardy!’s biggest winners — and behind the scenes, with the search for a new writer being opened up to the public for the first time ever. In reading about the rigorous application process the potential clue-writers have to go through, I came upon a fact that was surprising to me — there’s one word that is apparently never used on the set of one of the greatest game shows of all time.
Watching new episodes of Jeopardy! as they hit the 2026 TV schedule each weekday has become an integral part of my post-work routine over the years, so I was caught off-guard a bit to learn that one word I would closely associate with the show is apparently off-limits to its employees. As executive producer Michael Davies told CNN:
