‘Jeopardy!’ contestant Heather Ryan speaks out after ‘sexist’ question
A glasses-wearing “Jeopardy!” contestant broke her silence after a “sexist” clue came up during her episode.
During an episode of the popular game show on Oct. 28, players had to complete the rhyming phrase “Men seldom make passes at…” for $400.
Returning champion Will Wallace correctly answered “Girls who wear glasses” — but the situation became awkward as his female competitor, Heather Ryan, was wearing glasses at the time.
Ryan, who works as a health program director from Binghamton, NY, thought that the phrase made everybody on the stage and in the audience “uncomfortable.”
“It is definitely an odd choice,” Ryan told Binghamton University’s student-run newspaper Pipe Dream. “I think it made everybody in the audience and on stage, and (host) Ken Jennings too, a little uncomfortable. It was like, ‘Oh, that was unexpected.’”
“Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024.”
“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 added.
Ryan said she still had a “great time” on the show despite the controversial moment that aired on nationwide television.
“’It’s just a very special thing to play a small role in this big part,” Ryan said. “’It’s been running for 40 years, and so I got to play my part in it.”
After Wallace correctly guessed the answer by saying “what are girls who wear glasses,” Jennings, a former “Jeopardy!” contestant who holds the record for the longest consecutive winning streak, apologized for the answer but didn’t appear to stay in the unexpected moment for long.
“Yeah, a little bit problematic, Sorry Heather,” Jennings calmy replied to the glasses-wearing contestant.
“Very,” Wallace quipped before quickly moving on to the next question.
Viewers watched Ryan’s smile fade as she looked around the room in shock while appearing to try to process what just happened.
“Rhyming phrases category was awful, especially the sexist clue,” a viewer wrote on Reddit.
“‘Yeah, a little problematic’ — Ken Um, then why didn’t you bring that up to the writers before the game?” one fan commented on X.
Even though Jennings quickly apologized during the moment, one “Jeopardy!” boss is brushing off the incident.
During an episode of the “Inside Jeopardy!” podcast, the show’s producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss claimed there was a misunderstanding about the situation.
“I think many people out there thought the ‘Jeopardy!’ writers wrote this, or thought this,” Foss said. “But in fact, Dorothy Parker wrote this, about 100 years ago, in a 1926 book. We were just simply filling in the category.”
Foss, who has been a producer on the show since 2001, added that it appeared Jennings was “having a little fun” by calling out the moment right away during the show.
