Chicago, too. I’ve honestly never heard it pronounced anything but “sherbert” IRL. And it’s not like I’m not well traveled or have limited interactions with other Americans. That said, sherbet doesn’t come up in conversation very often. It’s also very possible my brain just fills in the r I expect.
This is another of those differences that makes English so much fun.
The argument that I’ve heard in favor of the judges’ ruling is that, since the clue showed pictures of sorbet and sherbet, and said that these two desserts both end in the same three letters, that the pronunciation of “sherbet” had to be “bet,” without the “r” sound. I find this to be somewhat unconvincing, just because the “-bet” in sorbet is not pronounced as it’s spelled, either.
That is, if the “-bet” in sorbet is pronounced “bay,” I can see no logical reason why it’s not acceptable for the “-bet” in sherbet to be pronounced “bert.”
It’s the whole Don vs. Dawn argument…
Maybe…but not really. “Don” vs “Dawn” constitutes basic vowel sound pronunciations (whether you pronounce them identically or differently. See also: “Mary, merry, marry.”) This just occurs in one particular word, that I’m aware of.
http://www.jeopardy-faqs.com/game-mechanics.html
He’s returned to work:
I didn’t put that in a spoiler because I don’t believe it gives anything away. He could be working between recordings if he’s still on a roll.
My friend couldn’t announce he was on Jeopardy until about a month before his show, and then he couldn’t tell us the outcome, of course. So I knew he knew all that stuff, but it was still a surprise to watch him.
My guy was Todd from last Thursday. He did great - answered all of the hardest questions. But he lost in Final Jeopardy. I guess he appeared to ice Austin after Austin did a little dance when he won, and the Redditors are calling Todd out on it. But Todd says he was just focusing on how he just lost. I could see it going either way 
Ah, yes. There was also some discussion on the previously.tv Jeopardy! forum about “that bad sport who refused to shake Austin’s hand.” And those folks mostly hate Austin!
Too bad your pal didn’t win. As I remember it, he put up a pretty good effort. There have been a couple of shows where it looked like Austin might be in trouble; I think that was one of them.
10/12/2017 episode spoilers:
Well, Austin lost today. He got off to a bad start in the first round, but was able to battle back in the DJ round to make it somewhat close going into FJ. It wasn’t enough, though, as both he and the leader answered correctly. Today’s winner was really strong through the whole game. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her go on a winning streak, but we’ll see. Austin finishes his streak as the fifth all-time in games won and money earned. And he’ll be in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.
I wonder if he’ll get any invites to talk shows, and if he’ll try to parlay his current ‘fame’ into some kind of gig in show business. While his 12 game streak is nowhere near as impressive as the 74 game streak of Ken Jennings, Austin has certainly attracted a fair bit of attention due to his personality.
If nothing else, you gotta love him for getting Alex Trebek to say “dick tree.” 
I got your Dick Tree right here , Trebek! At least that’s what your Mother said!
-Sean Connery, maybe
I really, *really *like Scarlett. When she got “contraindicated,” I thought Austin’s gonna lose, fer sure!
Austin rubbed me the wrong way from the get-go, mainly because of his voice: it sounds entirely too much like mine, and I hate the sound of my voice. That said, there was never any doubt as to his ability as a player.
Whatever. Any enmity I may have felt towards him went poof with his reaction to Scarlett’s win. If anything, he seemed more excited about it than she was.
I was fine with him, but his reaction when he lost left a queeze in my stomach. It was way too over-the-top, it seemed false. I felt like he was saying, “finally, I’m done with this shit, see ya, suckers!”
mmm
I am so goddamn pissed at the CBS affiliate we get’s refusal to run Jeopardy! on Thursdays during Football season. They don’t even reschedule it, they just drop it.
He was on The Tonight Show the other night. Apparently Fallon considers him a friend–Fallon was a regular at the bar at which Austin bartends.
https://www.jeopardy.com/jbuzz/highlights/austin-rogers-on-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon
I’m sad to say Scarlett lost on Friday, yet another victim of the giant-killers’ curse. As far as I can tell, no player who has ended another player’s 10-game or longer winning streak has ever gone on to win more than that one game.
Nancy Zerg ended a 74-game streak (Ken Jennings) but never won another game.
Brian Loughnane ended a 20-game streak (Julia Collins) but never won another game.
Victoria Groce ended a 19-game streak (Dave Madden) but never won another game.
Michael Baker ended a 13-game streak (Matt Jackson) but never won another game.
Margie Eulner Ott ended a 12-game streak (Seth Wilson) but never won another game.
Diana Peloquin ended an 11-game streak (Arthur Chu) but never won another game.
and now
Scarlett Sims ended a 12-game streak (Austin Rogers) but never won another game.
However, Dave Leach won a respectable six games after defeating 9-time champ Jason Keller.
The Tournament of Champions is airing this week and next. Austin competed today.
He got off to a very slow start and one of his competitors, Alan, was dominant in the first round. Austin started doing better in the DJ round, but never really got into a groove and Alan continued a very strong performance and was unbeatable in Final Jeopardy. Austin’s score ($16,000) could be high enough to get him into the semifinals as a wild card.
I was sorry David–the third place finisher today–didn’t have a better showing. He teaches in the same school district as I. I don’t personally know him, but I went to a professional development session he led this summer and he seems like a great guy.
Austin looked like he was playing tortoise and the hare. “Oh I’m not going to buzz in in the jeopardy round. It’ll make my win all that more awesome.” Too bad for him he wasn’t the true hare.
Wish he could have got crushed, but he’ll probably squeak in to the semis. At least Buzzy didn’t do his schtick.
I thought it was hilarious when he mentioned, in his interview, that he hadn’t gotten his money yet. Although those who don’t like him will probably find a way to be annoyed by it. 
I do think this tournament started filming not very long after his initial run on the show ended. I thought that he looked kind of tired on yesterday’s show, and that may be why. I believe that, unless there are some tremendously high-scoring games today and tomorrow, Austin’s $16,000 will easily hold up and he’ll get a wild card spot.
For all the hate that Austin gets, I find Buzzy to be infinitely more irritating.
I liked Austin a lot. He had humor.
Well, he made it to the semis. I can take him or leave him. He’s “quirky” but not in an especially good way.
I was surprised at the easy answers tonight’s crew missed, especially in the SciFi category. Not one of them new the author of Dune?? There were two others that none even made a guess at, but they escape me right now. So easy for your average player.