CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA: It often happens that contestants on game shows like 'Jeopardy!' turn out to have unexpected personalities and quirks as compared to how they show themselves on live TV. The same was the case with Holly Hassel who was recently behind the podium on the quiz competition.
While Holly was not exactly shy about her unpredictable interests that became a subject for one of the contestant interviews on the show, she kept under wraps a lot more than that. Literally! While the contestant showed up in formal clothing behind the podium for two episodes, she disclosed on her social media how her body was covered in tattoos everywhere.
Who is Holly Hassel?
Holly is an English professor at the North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. She previously taught English, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at Wisconsin Marathon County which is also her area of research and she has published several papers and books on the same. The contestant received her PhD focused on composition and rhetoric from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln back in 2002.
Holly put a halt to the multi-day champion Suresh Krishnan's streak after luckily making it through a triple stumper final jeopardy round. In her first appearance on 'Jeopardy!', it was revealed that the English professor was also part of a band. The band makes music in the rock genre and consists of other English faculty members alongside Holly. She said in the Q&A with host Mayim Bialik, "One of our first original songs was inspired by Jeopardy! champ Emma Boettcher.” Holly lost the next game after becoming the champion for one day
Why did Holly cover her tattoos?
In an interview, Holly revealed the reason behind her not exposing her tattoos on 'Jeopardy!' The contestant said, "They kind of don't want you to [show the tattoos]. They’re worried about copyright. That is a concern if you have something on your body that’s copyrighted that that's going to be a violation of something," as per The Sun.
Holly herself had no issues in showing off her inked, colorful arms but because of the copyright issues, she had no other choice but to go along with the rules. "On one of my arms is all original art, but on the other arm sleeve, there's a couple of Dr. Seuss designs and the rest are Dr. Suess inspired," she shared, "So I think they probably wouldn't have violated anything."
Finally, it only made sense for Holly to wear a black blazer as she did for her two appearances on the show because the studio is incredibly cold. She said, "So they were like: ‘You’re going to want your jacket on.'"
Holly also revealed that her full-body tattoos extended all the way to her back, with a picture of her 'Alice in Wonderland' tattoo. She shared a hilarious moment in which she failed to guess a 'Jeopardy!' clue which was written right on her body.
