Jeopardy!, America’s brainiest game show, is currently experiencing a bona fide champion run, with grad student Matt Amodio killing it for over two weeks straight, with no end in sight. He could be one of the all-time greats! Sadly he’s not been the top news out of the long-running program. That would be the total fiasco that has been the showrunners’ attempts to finally find a replacement for longtime host Alex Trebek, who passed away in November. And after the latest development, one of its biggest champs had the perfect, most devastating take.
To recap: Since Trebek’s passing, the show has seen a revolving door of guest hosts. Many assumed this was their chance to test out a permanent replacement. A lot of people loved LeVar Burton. Even Aaron Rodgers got great notices. But after all that they wound up going with Mike Richards, one of the show’s executive producers. A huge pushback ensued, and not only because he was hardly anyone’s top pick; there’s also his involvement in some lawsuits with previous shows to which he’s been attached.
But on Wednesday, Richards was officially named permanent host. There was more, though: There would be a Jeopardy! off-shoot, which would be lorded over by actually popular guest host Mayim Bialik. This is the news that seems to have irked show legend James Holzhauer.
“Also new for next season: contestants can submit two Final Jeopardy responses in case the first one causes public backlash,” tweeted the show’s second-highest-ever earner, and the third-highest in game show history.
Two years back, Holzhauer spent 33 games on the show. That’s incredibly impressive, though it’s still less than half of the run owned by Ken Jennings, who reigned over a whopping 75 episodes back in 2004. Speaking of which, Jennings also weighed in the Jeopardy! host fracas, albeit a bit more lightly.
In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have insisted to Jeopardy that I host every episode while eating a loud, juicy apple.
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) August 11, 2021
After all that, Jeopardy! addicts will be gifted with not one but two shows. Still, as Holzhauer implied, it’s better to simply get it right the first time.