Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: Film and TV, US News, Jeopardy!, Social Media
Poppy Bilderbeck
A Jeopardy! contestant has opened up about an awkward round on the show which saw host Ken Jennings apologize to her.
Last month, health program director Heather Ryan, video game designer Will Wallace and food sales representative Ian Taylor went head-to-head in American TV game show Jeopardy!.
However, the contestants encountered an awkward question during the first round of one specific category with Ryan having since spoken out about the incident.
In the 'Complete the Rhyming Phrase' category, Wallace was asked to fill in the second half of the sentence, the first half reading: "Men seldom make passes..."
Wallace responded: "Girls who wear glasses."
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Quickly noticing that the one woman competing was also wearing glasses, Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings leapt in to note: "A little problematic, sorry, Heather."
Wallace added: "Very."
And Ryan herself has since spoken out about the question.
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In an interview with Birmingham University student newspaper Pipe Dream, she reflected on the round as 'definitely an odd choice'.
She continued: "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."
And it's not taken long for social media users to weigh in.
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"Well said," one Twitter user wrote, while another commented: "Sorry, Heather!"
"The show needs to be more responsible," a third said.
E! News reports a user stating they were 'still angry about this', claiming that she's 'used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment'.
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With another adding: "It was just stupid... But he [Jennings] did the right thing."
UNILAD has contacted Jeopardy! for comment.
Thankfully, Ryan's experience of the show hasn't been tainted by the bizarre round, the contestant explaining that she, Wallace and Taylor have kept in contact since the episode.
Ryan came second on the show, losing out in Final Jeopardy to Taylor.
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She reflected: "It was very fun. I had a great time. Everybody there was very welcoming.
"[...] 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."
She added that she had a 'great time' and 'everybody there was very welcoming'.