Jeopardy! contestant says 'gangster' instead of 'gangsta', loses $3200

Coolio himself said Nick Spicher should have been given the point

A Jeopardy! contestant was penalised for what music fans will understand to be a small - yet important - mistake of pronunciation.

The long-running game show saw 2018 off to a fantastic start with the awkward moment. In the category "Music & Literature Before & After" - where the contestant has to find the common word which links two separate titles.

The clue read: "A song by Coolio from Dangerous Minds goes back in time to become a 1667 John Milton classic."

Nick Spicher, a museum educator from Everett, Washington, appeared to answer correctly: "What is Gangster's Paradise Lost."

"Yes," host Alex Trebek responded.

But Spicher was quickly crushed by the news that he had, in fact, got it wrong, by a show with a history of being a stickler for pronunciation.

"Our judges have re-evaluated one of your responses a few moments ago, Nick," Trebek said. "You said 'ganster's' instead of 'gangsta's' on that song by Coolio, so we take $3,200 away from you."

Mispronouncing Coolio's chart-topping 1995 track "Gangsta's Paradise" saw Spicher drop from first place, with $12,000, to second place with $8,800.

In its official blog, Jeopardy! explained: "Although Nick's response of 'Gangster's Paradise Lost' was initially accepted, the hard 'R' sound caught the ear of one member of the onstage team, who immediately followed up with a quick check.

"It turns out that 'gangsta' and 'gangster' are listed separately in the Oxford English Dictionary, each with its own unique definition. Nick changed no only the song's title, but also its meaning, making his response unacceptable."

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines a gangster as: "A member of a criminal gang, esp. one involved in organised crime." A gangsta is "a member of an urban territorial gang".

But Coolio himself stepped in after the show to say he probably would have counted the answer.

"I probably would have gave it to him," he told TMZ, then offering the advice: "This is for white people. The E-R will always get you in trouble."

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