Heather Ryan, a contestant on a recent Jeopardy! Episode, spoke out about a sexist clue that quickly faced backlash online.
The moment occurred when host Ken Jennings read the clue, “Men seldom make passes at…,” prompting a fellow contestant to correctly answer: “Girls who wear glasses.”
However, the iconic Dorothy Parker line didn’t sit well with some viewers of the October 28 episode.
Highlights
- Jeopardy! contestant Heather Ryan spoke out about a sexist clue that quickly faced backlash online.
- The clue made a reference to "girls who wear glasses," leading to an "uncomfortable" moment on the show.
- “A little problematic, sorry, Heather,” host Ken Jennings said.
- Heather broke her silence and emphasized that such clichés have no place in modern times.
A Jeopardy! contestant addressed the backlash over a sexist clue referencing "girls who wear glasses"
Image credits: Christopher Willard / ABC via Getty Images
Image credits: Jeopardy!
The clue quickly struck a nerve, especially since Heather was wearing glasses herself.
Sensing the discomfort, the game show host quickly apologized to her for the "problematic" statement and moved on.
“A little problematic, sorry, Heather,” Ken said.
However, Heather had a few thoughts of her own on the matter.
Host Ken Jennings quickly apologized to Heather Ryan after realizing the awkwardness of the clue
Image credits: Jeopardy!
Image credits: Jeopardy!
"It is definitely an odd choice,” she told Binghamton University’s student-run newspaper, Pipe Dream, on November 6.
“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,’” she continued.
She emphasized that such clichés have no place in modern times and also pointed out how the impact goes beyond the show.
Heather, a health program director from Binghamton, New York, said the clue was "definitely an odd choice"
Image credits: Jeopardy!
“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 said. “So, I think it’s much better to be able to see than anything else.”
As for her suggestion for the show, she said: “Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024.”
Despite the uncomfortable moment, Ryan spoke warmly about her overall experience on the long-running game show. She narrowly lost by just $1 and described the experience as “very fun.”
“Maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024," Heather suggested, addressing the "uncomfortable" moment
Image credits: Jeopardy!
“I had a great time,” she told the student-run newspaper. “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 added. “It’s been running for 40 years, and so I got to play my part in it.”
The controversial clue about “girls who wear glasses” was addressed in an episode of the Inside Jeopardy! Podcast last week.
The contestant, who narrowly lost by $1, described her overall experience on the show as "very fun"
"I think many people out there thought the Jeopardy! writers wrote this, or thought this," said Sarah Whitcomb Foss, the podcast host and the show’s producer.
"But in fact, Dorothy Parker wrote this, about 100 years ago, in a 1926 book,” she continued. “We were just simply filling in the category."
Podcast co-host Buzzy Cohen chimed in, saying, “Can I tell you, someone ran up to me in a coffee shop and was like, 'What was this going on with the glasses, making fun of the glasses?' I was like 'What are you talking about?' Wild. We gotta read more.”
"And Ken in the moment was like, 'Oh gosh, woah that’s harsh' to Heather, because he was just being a host in the moment," Sarah went on to say.