This is an old rule, no one was robbed. You can misspell, but it must match a pronunciation of the correct response. So I think “Benedik” would have been accepted for “Benedick”, but since his response of “Benedict” changes the pronunciation, he is ruled to be wrong. And when giving a verbal answer, a mispronunciation is accepted, IF the spelling could be read that way. I think that is to allow for someone who has seen the word in print, but never heard it pronounced (or there are different pronunciations). So a reply for “Eggers” could be pronounced with a long E or a short E, and be accepted verbally.
It makes sense in a way, otherwise, the judges are trying to guess what he meant - and that's subjective. This is an objective ruling, like it or not.
REF:
LINK That said, I think it is unfair when a clue requires TWO things to be correct - they should ask for any one of the two. Otherwise, it's like TWO Final Jeopardies, not ONE. That's not Final!