Mike Richards will not host Jeopardy! after a tumultuously brief stint as the official replacement for Alex Trebek. But the show didn’t go far to find a guest host to pick up the slack.
According to a CNN report, Mayim Bialik will step in to host episodes in the wake of Richards abruptly leaving the role after a string of controversies involving comments that he’s made and a lawsuit during his time on The Price Is Right:
Bialik will host the episodes that are taped this week, people familiar with the matter told CNN Business. Since the game show typically tapes a week’s worth of episodes on a single day, this means she will host several weeks of “Jeopardy!”
Sony, the show’s producer, declined to comment.
Bialik, who according to a TMZ report was offered the full-time gig herself but could not accept because of other obligations, will fill in as the show’s first guest host of Season 38, which started taping last week. The CNN report notes that’s the case as well, though the altered timeline for finding a full-time host has apparently put her back in the running for the gig:
“The studio loves Mayim but at the time of the decision for the current season, her schedule for ‘Call me Kat’ was set and she wouldn’t have been able to juggle the syndicated show and her fox sitcom,” the person said.
“Now that there is some more time to figure things out, she has become a real viable choice for Sony,” the person continued. “It just makes sense to ask her to step in for several weeks while they figure out next steps.”
Richards is still serving in his executive producer role on the show, and there’s some speculation about whether he will be part of the decision-making on his full-time replacement. But it’s likely we see a number of guest hosts return who competed with Bialik and Richards for the hosting job that the latter won, then very quickly lost.
(Via CNN)