Hilary Glazer, a freelance writer and editor from Charleston, West Virginia, didn’t win the Jeopardy! game that aired on Friday, September 13. But she did win viewers’ affection with her getting-to-know-you story on the show.
“Hilary’s anecdote … filled me with much joy,” one viewer wrote on Reddit in a post-episode discussion. “Best story ever told on Jeopardy! without a doubt.”
In Friday’s game, host Ken Jennings teed up the anecdote, asking Hilary about the most beautiful work of art she had ever seen.
“Well, Ken, I got to tell you, it took place in a restroom, and I was not the artist,” she began. “But one day at work, I went into the ladies’ room — there were three stalls, I happened to go into this one — and inside the toilet was the most beautiful composition of still-life fruit. There were blueberries, there were melons, there were strawberries, and oh, my God, I wish I had a camera because I want[ed] to remember this. It was, like, 2006, so I didn’t have anything to take [a photo] with.”
“You just had your memory,” Ken added.
“I have my memory, and it’s a wonderful one,” Hilary responded.
“And now it’s in the memory of millions of viewers,” the host quipped.
“And I hope they appreciate it,” Hilary said.
Appreciate it they do! “She had me at still life in the toilet!” one viewer wrote on Reddit.
“I have to say that’s the best one I’ve ever heard,” someone else said.
Better yet, Hilary entered the chat to respond to the Reddit praise.
“I’m not worthy! I’m Hilary, and I can’t tell you how tickled I am that you loved my toilet tale,” she wrote.
Hilary also told her fellow Reddit users more about the tableau. “I opened the stall door and found a bowl full of blueberries, strawberries, melons, possibly cantaloupe, and was shaken to my core,” she wrote. “On the one hand, it irked me, because the trash cans were right there… but on the other hand, the composition, the colors… all so beautiful!”
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