Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings Will Host ‘Jeopardy!’s Remaining 2021 Episodes
Th new season of Jeopardy! began this week in slightly surreal fashion. Mike Richards took over the permanent position of host from the late Alex Trebek — but shortly after these episodes were taped, Richards resigned from the job after offensive comments he had made on an old podcast came back to light. Richards held the host gig on Jeopardy! for only nine days. He filmed just this first week of episodes. (The final two from his run air tonight and tomorrow.)
With Richards’ resignation, the search was back on for a permanent Jeopardy! host. In the meantime, Mayim Bialik, who was previously announced as the new host of a series of Jeopardy! primetime specials, began serving as the interim host. Now the show has announced that for at least the remainder of 2021, the hosts of Jeopardy! will be Bialik and former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings.
Since when did the Jeopardy! Twitter account gain sentence? That’s kind of weird.
Jennings was the very first replacement host of Jeopardy! following Trebek’s death in late 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. A fan favorite thanks to his record-breaking run on the show (and his work as a consulting producer on the series), many expected Jennings to be a frontrunner for the permanent job. Now he gets another chance to work as the interim host (and perhaps to make the case for himself as the full-time guy at the same time).
Bialik’s episodes of Jeopardy will begin airing next Monday, September 20, and continue through early November. After that, she and Ken Jennings will alternate as the host for the rest of 2021. After that, Jeopardy! will likely announce a new permanent host for 2022. Let’s hope their choice receives a thorough background check first.