‘Jeopardy!’ Contestant Speaks Out About ‘Uncomfortable’ Viral Moment

A Jeopardy! contestant who was given a sexist clue during a recent appearance on the long-running game show is speaking out. Speaking to Binghamton University’s student-run newspaper Pipe Dream on Nov. 6, Heather Ryan opened up about the “uncomfortable” moment when during the Oct. 28 episode players had to complete the rhyming phrase “Men seldom make passes at…”

The awkward moment came after Ryan, health program director from Binghamton, New York, picked the $400 clue under the category “Complete the Rhyming Phrase.” The selection, however, drew an eyebrow-raising clue that prompted players to finish the phrase, “Men seldom make passes at.” The correct answer was, “Girls who wear glasses,” with Ryan not only being the only woman on stage, but also wearing glasses.

“It is definitely an odd choice,” Ryan said of the phrase, per PEOPLE. “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.’”

Ryan suggested that, “maybe we choose better rhyming phrases in 2024,” adding that, “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.”

Ryan is not the first person to speak out against the phrase. During the episode, Jennings, who took over hosting duties following the death of Alex Trebek in 2020, admitted the line was “a little problematic” and apologized to Ryan. Ryan’s fellow contestant Will Wallace agreed that the clue was “very” problematic.

Opening up about the clue during the Nov. 5 episode of the official Inside Jeopardy! podcast, per TV Insider, Jeopardy! producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss explained that while “many people thought the Jeopardy! writers wrote this, or thought this,” the clue came from the poem News Item by Dorothy Parker. Foss said they were “simply, just, filling in the category… I really think that people out there are convinced that Jeopardy! writers pinned this because they think ‘men seldom make passes…’ I don’t know! Sometimes the clickbait, it’s too much.”

Despite the uncomfortable moment, which was blasted by viewers, Ryan said her experience on Jeopardy! “was very fun” and she had “a great time.”

“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,” she told the outlet. “It’s just a very special thing to play a small role in this big part. It’s been running for 40 years, and so I got to play my part in it.”

Jeopardy! airs weeknights on ABC.