‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Says Sexist Clue Made Everyone in the Room ‘A Little Uncomfortable’

During a recent appearance on Jeopardy, the contestant Heather Ryan was on the receiving end of an apology from host Ken Jennings after a sexist clue made its way into the Complete the Rhyming Phrase category. The host deemed the Dorothy Parker phrase “Men seldom make passes at … girls who wear glasses” to be “a little problematic,” a fact highlighted by the fact that Ryan was wearing glasses on the show. In a recent interview, the contestant noted that it didn’t just make her uncomfortable; it shifted the energy across the room from the audience to the stage.

“It is definitely an odd choice,” Ryan told Binghamton University’s Pipe Dream newspaper. “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. 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. So, I think it’s much better to be able to see than anything else.”

Apart from the phrasing incident, Ryan noted that her overall experience on the classic series was “very fun,” adding: “I had a great time. Everybody there was very welcoming.”

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Fans online weren’t as forgiving about the inclusion of the sexist remark. “Frankly, I don’t need to hear Ken read an obviously outdated and inappropriate clue and then call it ‘problematic,’” one viewer shared on a Reddit thread about the episode. “Maybe he can use his position to get it switched out before it goes out over the air.”

Jennings has been the sole host of Jeopardy since December 2023, when his co-host Mayim Bialik stepped down. They were the successors to long-time host Alex Trebek, who died in 2020.