“Jeopardy!” contestant Heather Ryan is speaking out after she experienced an awkward encounter on the beloved game show.
Ryan, a health program director from Binghamton, New York, admitted the “sexist” clue that caused quite the buzz on “Jeopardy!” made her feel “uncomfortable.”
During the episode that aired on Oct. 28, host Ken Jennings read a clue from the category “Complete the Rhyming Phrase.”
The prompt read, “Men seldom make passes at…”.
Returning champion Will Wallace correctly answered, “Girls who wear glasses.”
The questionable phrase was from acclaimed poet Dorothy Parker.
“It is definitely an odd choice,” Ryan, the female contestant who wore glasses on the show, shared with Binghamton University’s newspaper Pipe Dream.
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“I think it made everybody in the audience and on stage, and Ken Jennings too, a little uncomfortable. It was like, ‘Oh, that was unexpected.’”
“Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024,” she suggested.
Ryan continued to explain how controversial the “Jeopardy!” clue was and the impact it can have on young female students.
“Unfortunately, there are still girls who are [in] middle school, and they don’t want to wear their glasses, and they’re losing out on their education,” she argued. “So, I think it’s much better to be able to see than anything else.”
Despite the tense situation, Ryan shared she had a “great time” on the game show.
“Everybody there was very welcoming. It’s such a part of American culture that I definitely wanted to go on when I got the call for it.”
“It’s just a very special thing to play a small role in this big part,” she said. “It’s been running for 40 years, and so I got to play my part in it.”
On the “Jeopardy!” episode, Jennings recognized the prompt may have made Ryan uncomfortable since she wore glasses on the show.
“A little problematic, sorry, Heather,” Jennings remarked.
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Wallace chimed in and added, “Very,” as he defended the female contestant.
After the game show episode aired, fans heavily criticized Jennings for the “sexist” clue.
“‘Yeah, a little problematic’ – Ken… Um, then why didn’t you bring that up to the writers before the game?” one comment read on X.
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Another viewer wrote, “More like extremely problematic!”
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“Frankly, I don’t need to hear Ken read an obviously outdated and inappropriate clue and then call it ‘problematic,'” a fan wrote on Reddit. “Maybe he can use his position to get it switched out before it goes out over the air.”
While another “Jeopardy!” viewer added on X, “Still angry about this. She’s used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment.”
