Last week, we reported that the Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings was forced to apologize to a female contestant for a “problematic” clue that fans claimed was “sexist.” Now, Jeopardy! producer Sarah Whitcomb Foss is speaking out about the controversy.
Jennings Apologizes For ‘Problematic’ Clue
In the “Complete the Rhyming Phrase” category on the October 28th episode, Jennings read the clue, “Men seldom make passes at…” The answer: “Girls who wear glasses.”
Afterwards, Jennings acknowledged that the clue was “a little problematic” to say. He then apologized to a contestant, health program director Heather Ryan, who was wearing glasses.
“Sorry, Heather,” he said.
“Very,” another contestant named Will Wallace chimed in to add.
Ryan later lost the game by just $1.
Check out the uncomfortable moment in the video below.
Fans were quick to unleash their fury over this clue.
“Still angry about this. She’s used her intelligence to get on here, only to be insulted by a sexist and rude comment,” one person wrote.
“It was a weird choice,” another person added. “There are plenty of other rhyming phrases to choose from that don’t make your contestants, your host, and your audience visibly uncomfortable.”
Related: ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Ken Jennings Forced To Apologize To Female Contestant For ‘Problematic’ Clue
Foss Speaks Out
Foss, a producer who has been working on Jeopardy! since 2001, went on the game show’s podcast to defend the clue.
“I think many people out there thought the ‘Jeopardy!’ writers wrote this, or thought this,” she said. “But in fact, Dorothy Parker wrote this, about 100 years ago, in a 1926 book. We were just simply filling in the category.”
Foss was joined by the former champion Buzzy Cohen, who said that he even heard about the clue in person.
“Can I tell you, someone ran up to me in a coffee shop and was like, ‘what was this going on with the glasses, making fun of the glasses?’” Cohen said. “I was like ‘What are you talking about?’ Wild. We gotta read more.”
“And Ken in the moment was like, ‘Oh gosh, woah that’s harsh’ to Heather, because he was just being a host in the moment,” Foss added.
Cohen claimed that Jennings was just “having a little fun” by calling out the clue right away.
“But I really think that people out there are convinced that ‘Jeopardy!’ writers pinned this because they think ‘men seldom make passes…’” Foss concluded.
Jennings In A Tricky Situation
This could not have come at a worse time for Jennings, whose future on Jeopardy! is currently uncertain.
Earlier in October, sources told The Mirror that Jeopardy! producers are no longer sure if they want to keep Jennings on as the host of the game show.
Executives have reportedly noticed that ratings on Wheel of Fortune have spiked in the weeks since Ryan Seacrest took over as host from Pat Sajak. This has led them to become curious as to whether they could make the same thing happen with Jeopardy!
Jennings is vulnerable to being fired at all times. This is because he does not have a long-term contract for the $4 million hosting gig on Jeopardy!
“Of course Ken wants to do this for the next twenty years, but he’s going to have to get comfortable with only being renewed one or two years at a time for the foreseeable future,” another source previously explained. “Sony is keeping him in the hosting job but they are also keeping their options open.”
Only time will tell if Jennings is able to bounce back from this controversy!
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