A Jeopardy! contestant’s tall tale of his Granny’s burger inspiring a Jimmy Buffett classic left host Ken Jennings impressed.
As The Mirror noted, In the April 29 episode of the quiz show, competitor Ferdinand Percentie told host Jennings that his grandmother’s dish inspired Buffett’s hit, “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”
“My family comes from a small island in the Bahamas called Harbor Island, and according to family lore, Jimmy Buffett came to the hotel-restaurant my grandma founded and had a cheeseburger there,” Percentie explained. “And that was his inspiration to write ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise.’”
“Your grandma’s cheeseburgers were so good that he wrote a hit song about them? That is amazing,” a delighted Jennings observed.
However, some Jeopardy! fans weren’t buying the contestant’s claims of her Granny’s cuisine inspiring a Jimmy Buffett classic.
“Man this guy on Jeopardy is the biggest capper of all time,” one bemused viewer wrote on X. “He’s claiming his mom’s cheeseburgers were so good they inspired Jimmy buffet to write cheeseburger in paradise when he went to her restaurant,” they explained alongside a gif of a man wearing an impossibly high stack of hats.
Though the context clues are obvious, “capper” is slang for liar…
Are the ‘Jeopardy!’ Hopeful’s Claims About His Grandmother and Jimmy Buffett True?
However, Percentie may simply be embracing a tall tale spun by his family for decades. After all, you never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
According to legend, Buffett ended up on a Caribbean boat trip where, after a mishap, he had only canned food and peanut butter for sustenance. After finally reaching shore, he stumbled upon a restaurant and promptly ordered a cheeseburger, an experience that inspired the title of his iconic song.
As Buffett recounts in the Parrot Head Handbook, the restaurant was situated in Roadtown on Tortola Island. It was nestled at the dock’s end, where a newly constructed marina and bar appeared almost as a mirage.
“The overdone burgers on the burned toast buns tasted like manna from heaven, for they were the realization of my fantasy burgers on the trip,” Buffett wrote.
Percentie, a day trader hailing from Altamonte Springs, Florida, despite playing a stellar game, did not advance in the competition. Leading for a time, he stumbled on the final Jeopardy! question, which relegated him to second place, finishing with $13,799.
Hopefully the failed Jeopardy! contestant still has his granny’s recipe. Then he can cook up an overdone burger to ease his pain. Just as Jimmy Buffett did all of those years ago.