Game show questions can be pretty hard, but what were these people thinking?
Game show answers gone wild
Game shows have given us some of the most bewildering moments on television, from contestants who blank out entirely to those who sound super confident about hilariously wrong answers. Whether it’s a wild misfire on Family Feud or a trivia fail on Jeopardy!, these moments prove that the buzzer is fast, and the brain isn’t always faster. Get ready to laugh, cringe and yell How?! at these 21 funny game show answers that you might not believe were uttered by real people.
Get Reader’s Digest’s Read Up newsletter for more humor, travel, tech and fun facts all week long.
1/21
New purchase
Family Feud question: Name something you feel before you buy it.
Answer: Excited.
2/21
Wrong on all accounts
Family Feud question: Give us a vegetable you marinate.
Answer: Grapes.
3/21
The category was U.S. cities
Jeopardy! answer: Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle.
Question: What is Toronto?
4/21
The feeling was mutual
Family Feud question: Name something a burglar would not want to see when he breaks into a house.
Answer: Naked grandma!
5/21
We were looking for month three or four
Family Feud question: During what month of pregnancy does a woman begin to look pregnant?
Jeopardy! answer: This term for a long-handled gardening tool can also mean an immoral pleasure seeker.
Question: What is a hoe?
8/21
It’s Winnie the Pooh
Family Feud question: Real or fictional, name a famous Willy.
Answer: Willy the Pooh.
9/21
Sir, you are very, very wrong
Jeopardy! answer: In common law, the age of this, signaling adulthood, is presumed to be 14 in boys and 12 in girls.
Question: What is the age of consent?
10/21
Phony, not pony
Family Feud question: Name something you might buy that could turn out to be phony.
Answer: A horse.
11/21
Doesn’t sound Biblical to us
Jeopardy! answer: A Christian hymn and a Jewish holiday hymn are both titled this, also the name of a 2009 Tony-nominated musical.
Question: What is Kinky Boots?
12/21
Papa isn’t going to get you any points
Family Feud question: Name a kind of bear.
Answer: Papa.
13/21
Clever, but no
Jeopardy! answer: In 1891, this European said, “Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses.”
Question: Who is this handsome gentleman? (With an arrow pointing up at himself)
14/21
Just think about that for a second
Family Feud question: Name a yellow fruit.
Answer: Orange.
15/21
Not a sports fan
Jeopardy! answer: 100+ assists in an NHL season have been accomplished only 13 times, 11 times by this player.
Question: Who is Magic Johnson?
16/21
Are you part of a nudist colony?
Family Feud question: Name something only worn by children.
Answer: Clothes.
17/21
Not what we were looking for
Family Feud question: Name something that follows the word “pork.”
Answer: Upine.
18/21
READER'S DIGEST
We don’t either
Jeopardy! answer: Harpo Marx was among this group when it met in NYC’s Rose Room for its final time, in 1943 and found there was nothing left to say.
Question: What is I have no idea?
19/21
Try again
Family Feud question: Name something made of wool.
Answer: Sheep.
20/21
Hmmm
Jeopardy! answer: Paul III roared at him, “I have waited 30 years for your services. Now I’m Pope. Can’t I satisfy my desire?”
Question: Who is Lady Godiva?
21/21
We were looking for sunscreen
Family Feud question: Name something people take with them to the beach.
Answer: Um, turkey.
Why trust us
Reader’s Digest has been telling jokes for more than 100 years, curated and reviewed over the last 20 years by Senior Features Editor Andy Simmons, a humor editor formerly of National Lampoon and the author of Now That’s Funny. We’ve earned prestigious ASME awards for our humor—including comical quips, pranks, puns, cartoons, one-liners, knock-knock jokes, riddles, memes, tweets and stories in laugh-out-loud magazine columns such as “Life in These United States,” “All in a Day’s Work,” “Laughter, the Best Medicine” and “Humor in Uniform,” as well as online collections such as short jokes, dad jokes and bad jokes so bad, they’re great. You can find a century of humor in our 2022 compendium, Reader’s Digest: Laughter, the Best Medicine. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices.
