Fans React After 'Jeopardy!' Contestants Fail to Identify a Movie Icon

This one was hard to watch.

It's not unusual for Jeopardy! questions to stump contestants, but when the players fail to recognize one of the most prolific faces in entertainment, well, viewers tend to have a problem with that.

During the episode that originally aired on Dec. 1, contestants Cris Pannullo, Rob Lamanna, and Jeri Zulli shocked the nation after they could not identify a photo of Hollywood legend Gene Kelly.

Yes, that's the same Kelly that portrayed Don Lockwood in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain alongside Debbie Reynolds and starred in An American in Paris (1951), Xanadu (1980), and opposite Judy Garland in The Pirate (1948) as well as Summer Stock (1950), just to name a few.

But on Thursday, Kelly was a stranger to Pannullo, Lamanna, and Zulli.

The clue—which included a photo of Kelly standing next to the late Olivia Newton-John—was listed under the "Remembering Olivia Newton-John" category for $1,000. Host Ken Jennings posed this question to contestants: "Olivia called it an 'amazing experience' working and dancing with this legend on Xanadu, which would be his last film."

Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly during "Xanadu" Press Conference - <a href="https://parade.com/living/september-holidays-observances" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:September;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">September</a> 18, 1979, at The Bistro in Beverly Hills, California, United States. <p><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/105534334" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Ron Galella/Getty Images;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Ron Galella/Getty Images</a></p>

After a brief pause, the buzzer signified the end of the round, and as Jennings shared the answer with players, viewers took to social media to express their disappointment.

"The contestants on Jeopardy did not know who Gene Kelly was. I am astonished! Have they never seen 'Singing in the Rain'?????" one Twitter user questioned.

"No one knew Gene Kelly?? Boooooo! #Jeopardy," another exclaimed.

Someone else claimed that their knowledge of Kelly's career was a sign of their age, tweeting, "Sometimes, I'm just perplexed... on #Jeopardy tonight, how could all 3 of the contestants NOT know Gene Kelly, the answer to the Olivia Newton-John category? Maybe I'm just old or something."

Despite the trip up, Pannullo was able to redeem himself, winning both Thursday and Friday's games, marking his 20th consecutive win and securing him the number five spot on the Leaderboard of Legends for highest recorded winnings.

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