Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings Apologizes to Female Contestant Over "Problematic" Clue

What is… offensive?

One Jeopardy! clue raised eyebrows during the Oct. 28 episode, prompting host Ken Jennings to apologize to the episode’s sole female contestant.

The clue in question was located in the “Complete the Rhyming Phrase” category and was worth $400. Contestant Heather Ryan selected the clue, which read, “Men seldom make passes at…”

Heather was unable to answer the clue, which went instead to contestant Will Wallace, who finished the quote correctly, saying, “What are ‘Girls who wear glasses’?”

And notably, Heather was wearing glasses.

In the moment, Ken noticed the statement, which has been credited to late poet Dorothy Parker, admitting, “A little problematic, sorry Heather,” to which Will agreed, replying, “Very.”

Neither Heather nor Will went on to win Jeopardy! with the victory instead going to fellow contestant Ian Taylor.

But plenty of viewers commented on the sexist clue online, with some even feeling that it should’ve have been caught before it went on the show.

“Still angry about this,” one X user wrote in response. “She's used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment. F--king a--holes.”

"It was just stupid," another X user wrote. "But he did the right thing especially since one of the panelists was a young pretty woman wearing glasses."

“More like extremely problematic!” a third person wrote. “#girlswithglasses #Jeopardy.”

This isn’t the first time the show has been called out for a faux pas. In March 2023, the series accidentally revealed the final scores at the start of the episode, spoiling the end results for viewers.

And in November 2022, fans called out a controversial clue on Celebrity Jeopardy! in which the show brought up the death of Gabby Petito by using a clue involving her former boyfriend and suspected murderer Brian Laundrie to get contestants to guess the proper answer, “What is alligator?”

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.