Jeopardy contestant’s 'terrifying moment’ in Jamaica, Queens raises some questions

/
Jeopardy contestant Karen Ellestad said she had a “terrifying moment” when she accidentally rode the subway into Jamaica, Queens. Screenshot via twitter

Jeopardy contestant Karen Ellestad said she had a “terrifying moment” when she accidentally rode the subway into Jamaica, Queens. Screenshot via twitter

By David Brand

A Jeopardy contestant from Kentucky raised eyebrows in Queens on Monday when she recounted a “terrifying moment” from her teen years: a solo subway ride that unexpectedly took her from Manhattan to Jamaica. 

Karen Ellestad, a Frankfort, Kentucky native who works as a chaplain at an Episcopal preparatory school in Georgia, finished second in Monday’s episode of the iconic quiz show.

But the most memorable moment came during the brief personal anecdote portion of the program, when host Ken Jennings asked Ellestad about her “troubling experience as a 15-year-old in Queens, New York.” 

Ellestad said she was participating in a summer program in Manhattan and spent her days riding the subways because she “didn’t know a single person in New York City” and had yet to make any friends.

“One day I wasn’t paying attention to the changes that I was making and I ended up in Jamaica, Queens. And had no idea how I got there,” she said. “This was very much pre-Uber, pre-smart phone. So, terrifying moment. Just me and abject fear.”

Twitter users were quick to pounce on the story of a white woman named Karen feeling afraid in a predominantly Black, South Asian and Latino neighborhood.

“Watching Jeopardy and this lady told her little story about how she interned in NYC and once took the subway and ended up in Jamaica, Queens and it was the most *terrifying* thing,” tweeted a user named @QueensBeena. “Her name is actually Karen... and she lives up to it.”

“A #jeopardy contestant named #Karen told a story on the show about how she accidentally took the subway into Jamaica, Queens and she was "terrified." That is called racism,” posited a user named Laurence Timmerman.

But some were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that perhaps she was just surprised to wind up in a different place than she expected.

“When I was a kid and riding the subways when I wound up totally lost and couldnt find my way home I would be terrified for a few min... so maybe it's not what we think it is,” one person speculated. 

Ellestad, who lists a passion for modern European history, graphic design, cheese and Arsenal Football Club on her school faculty bio, did not not immediately respond to an email and other messages seeking further explanation about her “terrifying” subway trip.