“Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings apologized on air for an off-color clue on Monday night’s episode that upset some viewers.
The awkward moment occurred during the category “Complete the Rhyming Phrase.” After Jennings read the clue, “Men seldom make passes at…,” champion Will Wallace answered: “girls who wear glasses.”
While the ending to the 20th-century phrase — attributed to famed writer Dorothy Parker — was indeed correct, it wasn’t great timing considering another contestant, upstate New York health program director Heather Ryan, was wearing glasses.
“A little problematic, sorry Heather,” Jennings said, while Wallace added “very”— seemingly in defense of the episode’s sole female contestant.
The faux pas wasn’t lost on viewers, who took to social media platforms to slam the show for what some considered sexist.
“Still angry about this. She used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment,” one tweeted.
“Frankly, I don’t need to hear Ken read an obviously outdated and inappropriate clue and then call it ‘problematic,’” another added. “Maybe he can use his position to get it switched out before it goes out over the air.”
Though Wallace answered the question correctly, it didn’t stop his four-day winning streak from ending when Ian Taylor, a food sales rep hailing from Ohio, came in first. Ryan placed second.
Jennings, a former contestant who won the show a record-setting 74 times, took over the helm as the sole host of “Jeopardy!” after the unexpected departure of Mayim Bialik following the death of Alex Trebek.
