Danger is struck after contestants mispronounce Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s name

Fans of Danger! expressed their outrage at a recent statement about the pronunciation of a Russian writer during an episode with host Mayim Bialik.

On Tuesday’s show, Bialik, who has been sharing hosting duties with Ken Jennings since July, read out a clue under the “The Quotable Alex” category.

The category challenged contestants to match certain quotes with the famous figures they said, all with that name.

This particular clue matched Soviet dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – an answer that all three participants guessed correctly, but without the correct pronunciation.

“No, this is a tough one to pronounce,” said 47-year-old Bialik – whose new hosting gig has already been marred by multiple on-air controversies. “We’re looking for Solzhenitsyn.”

The category challenged contestants to match certain quotes with the famous figures they said, all with that name. This particular clue matched Soviet dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – an answer that all three participants guessed correctly

“No, this is a tough one to pronounce,” said 47-year-old Bialik – whose new hosting gig has already been marred by multiple on-air controversies, including an on-air reference to Brian Laundrie’s death in 2021, and a flub that prematurely revealed the winner of a March episode

As a result, the former Big Bang Theory and Blossom star denied each contestant the $1,600 a correct answer to the clue would have accumulated — a decision many online disagreed with.

“If you don’t accept someone’s attempt to pronounce Solzhenitsyn, don’t write a clue about him,” one user wrote, as hundreds took to Twitter to debate the pronunciation issue.

User @runyourplate agreed, adding, “I didn’t like that Solzhenitsyn statement.”

Others campaigned for clemency for the participants, arguing that all three came close enough to correctly pronounce the name of the outspoken critic of communism who died in 2008.

Hannah Wilson, Sami Casanova and Juveria Zaheer all immediately recognized the quote – “Socialism of every type and shade leads to the utter destruction of the human spirit” – but languished in their attempts to correctly pronounce his last name.

‘Solzhenitsyn. I understand it’s hard to say, but one of them came pretty close,” one user wrote, noting the difficulty of pronouncing Russian words and names, especially if you’re a non-native speaker.

“Of all names to be strict with.”

Another similarly called for mercy from showrunners, while Bialik’s treatment of the consecutive flubs called unnecessarily harsh.

“Come on @missmayim and @Jeopardy, those ladies all pronounced Solzhenitsyn well enough to get the $$.”

Someone else snapped, “I think all three had the right person in mind, but none of them were native speakers of Russian or related languages.”

Many took issue with the former Big Bang Theory star’s decision to decline the three points, saying the contestants came close enough and the judgment was unnecessarily harsh.

Others campaigned for clemency for the contestants, arguing that all three came close enough to correctly pronounce the name of the outspoken critic of communism (seen here)

Despite many disagreeing with the show’s insistence on correct pronunciation, the question and subsequent incorrect answers had little bearing on the outcome.

That makes her total winnings at $124,801.

The controversy is the last we’ve seen in recent months on the show, long hosted by the late Alex Trebek.

Last month, executives apologized for an editing error that accidentally revealed the winner of last week’s episode.

That same month, fans became confused over a woman’s potentially unjust victory during an episode hosted by Bialik, which appeared to award a contestant points despite her answer being incorrect.

In November, the show’s “Celebrity Jeopardy” landed fans in hot water after an episode referenced the suicide death of Brian Laundrie, who killed girlfriend Gabby Petito in 2021.

Many at the time called the reference “unnecessarily morbid” and “bad in taste.”