Jeopardy! champ Isaac Hirsch says show made him a ‘gay icon’ and got ‘thirsty DMs’ despite girlfriend

Ex Jeopardy! champ Isaac Hirsch unveils that his successful run on the game show made him very popular in the LGBTQ+ community.

Isaac revealed on a recent episode of the What is…A Jeopardy! podcast that he was the recipient of “many thirsty DMs” mostly from other men. The trivia whizz was a fan-favorite from the time he debuted on Jeopardy! in July until his nine-day winning streak ended the same month due to a miscalculation on his part.

Viewers couldn’t get enough of his 1970s fashion style, humorously quirky Q&A stories, and signature mustache.

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Even though he was upfront about his longtime girlfriend while he was on the trivia series, it didn’t deter gay men. What is…A Jeopardy! podcast hosts Emily Heller and John Cullen explained that Isaac had become a “low-key gay icon" from the game show.

"It was maybe the most surprising part of all of it," Isaac said acknowledging his unexpected acknowledgment. "Because I've been out in public, and as far as I know, I've never been hit on."

"So to see the gays be so thirsty and complimentary of me - deeply flattering but also completely unexpected,” he added. Jokingly, Isaac asked, "I don't know what you'd call me - am I a twink?”

Isaac further poked fun at his new status in the gay community.

"I'm currently undergoing twink death; a lot of grey hairs lately," he said, "I'm a gay icon now." At the time that the show was airing, Isaac seemed to notice that he was on many LGBTQ+ Jeopardy! fans’ radar.

"My big takeaway from this past week is that if I were both single and not straight I would be having a really good time right now,” Isaac wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in July.

On the podcast, he divulged that he received “many, many DMs [direct messages],” in addition to flirty X posts.

"[There were] many, many DMs, probably a 70 to 30 [ratio] of men and women in terms of flirtatious DMs," Isaac explained. Though some were friendly, there were more that were bolder.

"Lots of very nice old people and very nice regular people saying 'hey, loved you on Jeopardy!,” Isaac confessed. "And a lot of people are saying, 'Hey! You're hot' or whatever they say in DMs."

He expressed that he didn’t address the flirty DMs because if he had it would’ve “gotten dirty” eventually.

"They were all relatively polite for an intro DM. If I had responded, I'm sure they would have gotten dirty,” Isaac said. “My policy was if a DM is not overly flirtatious, I will respond and say 'Hey, thank you so much.'"