Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings was forced to apologize to a female contestant this week, after a ‘problematic’ clue.
Days after a 00s child star graced the studio, returning player Will Wallace went up against Heather Ryan and Ian Taylor in a battle to take home the jackpot.
However, things turned awkward during the Complete the Rhyming Phrase category, when the 50-year-old read the clue.
‘Men seldom make passes at,’ the presenter began, with the correct answer being ‘girls who wear glasses’.
He noted that the clue was a ‘little problematic’ as the only female player taking part was also wearing specs, and said: ‘Sorry, Heather’.
Will, who answered the clue correctly, replied, ‘very’, while Heather remained silent.
She ended up losing the prize money by just $1, ending the day on $19,600, compared to Ian’s prize money of $19,601.
Viewers rallied around Heather as the ABC game show aired on Monday, and quickly flocked to social media to slam the ‘awful’ clue.
Reddit user Jaysjep2 fumed: ‘Frankly, I don’t need to hear Ken read an obviously outdated and inappropriate clue and then call it “problematic”.
‘Maybe he can use his position to get it switched out before it goes out over the air.’
‘Rhyming phrases category was awful, especially the sexist clue,’ WaterTower11101 agreed.
Rye_bread_h said: ‘It was a weird choice. There are plenty of other rhyming phrases to choose from that don’t make your contestants, your host, and your audience visibly uncomfortable.’
Lavenderc penned: ‘Yeah, I didn’t appreciate the comment directing it to Heather.’
Some fans were quick to defend the inclusion, with ExerciseAcademic8529 declaring: ‘It is a quote from Dorothy Parker.’
As CecilBDeMillionaire added: ‘It’s a famous quip from Dorothy Parker, it’s not meant to be taken as a normative statement nor is it an endorsement of the sentiment on the part of the show.’
The legendary game show has been on our screens for around 60 years and sees contestants given an answer before they are asked to supply the trivia question.
Some of the biggest stars have appeared on the Celebrity Jeopardy! spin-off, including Jodie Foster, Ray Romano, Martha Stewart, Kelsey Grammer and Ashton Kutcher.
Oscar-winner Emma Stone previously revealed that she has been rejected from taking part on the main series despite applying every single year.
‘That’s my favorite show,’ she said on Variety’s Award Circuit podcast. ‘That’s my dream, I apply every June.
‘I would like to go on real Jeopardy! but you have to take the test and you can only take it once a year with your email address.
‘So every June, I take the quiz and they don’t tell you how you did. They just say, “We’ll let you know in the next nine-12 months if you got on the show.” Guess what, I haven’t got on the show.
‘I watch it every single night and I mark down how many answers I get right. I swear, I could go on Jeopardy!’
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