I laughed when I read the clue, which probably would have prevented me from buzzing in fast enough. I thought of both answers almost simultaneously and recognized “rake” as the correct one ans “ho” as a red herring (deliberate, I’m sure, on the part of the writers). I make absolutely no claims about which answer, if any would have occured to me first ifI’d been on the show. I typically freeze momentarily under that kind of pressure.
Don’t know. There’s a big difference between true knowledge and being able to answer trivia questions correctly and fast.
I’m proud of having been on that show, and I had a great time. But let’s not make more of it than it is - when it comes to Jeopardy people remember Alex Trebek, Ken Jennings and Sean Connery - and Connery was never on the show.
What is a rake?
While I laughed when Ken said ‘ho’ in response, a) it never occurred to me, and b) I agree with everyone else on why it’s not a valid response to the clue - which is why point a.
Rake.
I would protest that one. At least steam engines have drive wheels and drive rods. Drivers are used in this context in the linked article.
When I read the OP the word “ho/hoe” popped into my head, but I assumed this was the joke answer based on the thread title. Also, “immoral pleasure seeker” seemed like an odd definition of “ho”. I didn’t know that meaning of rake though. I’m 25 and have a fairly good vocabulary.
I thought of rake first, hoe second, and decided they probably wanted rake.
(bolding mine)
snigger 
I would’ve answered rake without hesitation. In fact when I read the clue in the OP, it’s what occurred to me. I did not even think of hoe since it is not the same word as ho (as others have pointed out).
A lot of people here seem to assume ho = whore = prostitute, and therefore is not really a pleasure seeker. But I think this is an outdated perception. Sure, a prostitute can be called a ho, but ho is really much more general a term that can simply mean “slut” (as another poster points out above), which would certainly qualify.
“Rake” would have to be the correct answer, as “ho” is not actually a word; it’s slang for “whore”. HOWEVER: he asked for a “term”, not a “word”, so one could logically contest getting it wrong with “ho”.
I guess “Post Hole Digger” is just right out…
My first thought was ho, then since you someone opened a thread on the subject gave I another thought and came up with rake.
I’m going to say that people use the term ho to describe slutty behaviour, not just prostitution, so I think it’s a valid response
Rake is a pleasure seeker, Ho is a pleasure giver.
I had a dream a couple of weeks ago that seemed completely innocent. Until I thought about it. See, the guy I’m currently interest in and I were in the gardening section of a store because he wanted to plant a garden. I asked him if he needed a hoe, and he said no. I didn’t need a rake either. Then he asked me what I thought of the seed he was buying, and if I’d help him plant the garden… Once I thought about it, it didn’t seem so g-rated after all :smack:
I’ve never heard of a rake being anything other than what you use to put leaves in a pile, and I’m kind of amazed that so many people thought of it first. And I think that ‘ho’ came from ‘whore’, but is no longer exclusively confined to that meaning. ‘Ho’ can easily mean ‘slut’, though I will concede that ‘ho’ and ‘hoe’ are different words.
What now? Slang isn’t words? That’s news to me.
Rake. Hoe didn’t occur to me until you posted it.
I went “Huh?” when I heard it the first time, when I saw Ken Jennings on TV. So neither came to mind to me, though to be fair I didn’t have much time to think.
I think the best thing about that answer was that Ken Jennings knew the word ho. Never would have thought it of him. 
I guess I assumed he almost purposefully threw the question in order to make a joke, which also made me like him a bit more. I didn’t think that would be a serious answer, given that it’s a completely slang term, and doesn’t really fit the clue.
Rake seems the obvious answer.
I thought of “hoe,” & did not think of “rake.” And I think of “ho” as meaning “slut” not “pross.”
Fair comment, but I know the person who answered “driver”, and trust me, that was not what he was thinking of :).