Let’s consider this odd little story a palate-cleanser. A contestant on Jeopardy! is being called out for poor sportsmanship.

It’s not something normally written about Jeopardy! players. The game show features robust competition among players with everyone showing a respect for decorum. Most players act happy for other winners, or they fake it well enough that they look sincere. In other words, it is usually adults acting like adults. It’s just good sportsmanship.

Game winners don’t usually act obnoxiously when they are announced the winner. This happened during the Friday episode of the Champions Wildcard tournament. A player named Aaron Craig was named the winner. When that happened, he blew a kiss to the audience and began clapping for himself. This sent some viewers into a tizzy.

I don’t know. I watched it and, as a Jeopardy! viewer, I wasn’t offended. I was kinda amused, to be honest. The guy got carried away and, yes, it was unusual behavior, but it wasn’t the end of the world.

“I turned the TV off after the self-congratulatory behavior,” one person complained on Reddit. “I certainly am not rooting for this guy to win and not even sure if I’ll watch the rest of the tournament. I’ve watched Jeopardy for decades and don’t recall seeing such rudeness.”

“The clapping at the end was unnecessary,” another stated, and someone agreed, commenting, “My husband and I looked at each other with mouths agape lol. It was wild.”

I thought about if I was standing on the stage as one of the players who lost the game – would I have been offended by his behavior? Would I think he was being rude? I just don’t think so.

One viewer posted on Reddit that he was turned off by the self-congratulatory behavior.

“I turned the TV off after the self-congratulatory behavior,” one person complained on Reddit. “I certainly am not rooting for this guy to win and not even sure if I’ll watch the rest of the tournament. I’ve watched Jeopardy for decades and don’t recall seeing such rudeness.”

Some people came to Aaron’s defense. They said he was just celebrating a tough win.

One person identified by Fox News as Aaron Craig acknowledged the criticism of his behavior on Reddit.

“TJ and Leah are amazing and lovely and brilliant, and either one would have been a great and deserving winner today,” wrote the Redditor. “I’m sorry if I got overly excited. I certainly didn’t mean to show anybody up, but my kids were there and I couldn’t believe that they got to watch me not just play in a semifinal, but win! Anyone who thinks I was over the top, that’s 1000% fair. No argument here.”

He sounds like he didn’t mean any harm. He just got excited and his kids were in the audience. I’m assuming that brought about the kiss to the audience. It was a gesture to them.

Maybe some of the show’s viewers don’t watch sports. I watch baseball, which is a pretty beign sport to watch. It can get rowdy but it usually doesn’t. However, when a team wins a big game, especially a play-off game like this Jeopardy! game was in the tournament, players get very excited and jump around while high-fiving each other. It’s not bad behavior. The losing team would be doing the same if they had won.

The world is on fire and people are tense. A game show like Jeopardy! is a good way to relax and not think about world problems for a half-hour. I’ll bet the viewers who say they won’t watch the rest of the champion tournament will tune back in. They were just surprised to see unusually exorbitant behavior from a winner. Everything is fine. The winner didn’t get political or out of line with personal comments. Some past winners have created controversy. I just don’t think this guy is one of them.