Isaac Hirsch became an instant fan favorite during his nine-game winning streak on Jeopardy! earlier this year, and it turns out he was a big hit with a particular subsection of the audience.
The customer support team lead from Burbank, California, walked away with over $215,000 after winning nine consecutive games on Jeopardy!‘s 40th season. However, in addition to the title of Jeopardy! champion, Hirsch earned the surprising title of “gay icon.”
As first reported by The U.S. Sun, Hirsch appeared on the most recent edition of the What is…? A Jeopardy! podcast, where he opened up about receiving lots of attention from the show’s gay viewers, including “thirsty DMs.”
“It was maybe the most surprising part of all of it,” Hirsch said after the podcast hosts referred to him as a “low-key gay icon.”
Hirsch continued, “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.”
“I don’t know what you’d call me… am I a twink?” he joked. “I’m currently undergoing twink death; a lot of gray hairs lately… I’m a gay icon now.”
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Hirsch, who has a girlfriend, became a hit with viewers for his impressive trivia skills, fun-loving personality, and thrift shop chic fashion sense (complete with mustache).
The Jeopardy! champ previously wrote about the attention he was receiving while appearing on the show. “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,” he wrote on X in July.
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 Hirsch (@IBHirsch) July 6, 2024
On the podcast, Hirsch admitted he “[There were] many, many DMs, probably a 70 to 30 [ratio] of men and women in terms of flirtatious DMs.”
“Lots of very nice old people and very nice regular people saying ‘hey, loved you on Jeopardy!,” he added. “And a lot of people are saying, ‘Hey! You’re hot’ or whatever they say in DMs.”
“They were all relatively polite for an intro DM. If I had responded, I’m sure they would have gotten dirty,” he continued. “My policy was if a DM is not overly flirtatious, I will respond and say ‘Hey, thank you so much.’”
He then recalled one particular DM from someone trying to test their luck. Hirsch said the fan asked if he was an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, and when he replied “Yes,” the user asked if he was “more than just an ally,” to which Hirsch said, “No.”
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“I’ve been with my girlfriend for five and a half years. I am just an ally,” he added.
As for how his girlfriend feels about all this male attention? Hirsch said she is loving it.
“My girlfriend watches RuPaul’s Drag Race, she’s more into queer spaces than I am as a whitebread straight guy,” he explained. “So she was all over it, ‘your boyfriend’s on gay Twitter,’ she really enjoyed it.”
Fans will be able to see more of Hirsch when he returns for the next Tournament of Champions.
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