Mike Richards’ tenure at Jeopardy! is now officially over, although the show’s still eeking through the handful of episodes that he hosted. This continuing awkwardness arrives after Richards’ dismissal in the wake of an exhaustive report from Claire McNear (of The Ringer) that detailed Richards’ history of troubling (often sexist and bigoted) comments. Richards is out as executive producer, too, and meanwhile, current champ Matt Amodio must push forth and attempt to keep winning, even with the whole annoying-answer issue under his belt.
Amodio sat down with the Washington Post following his accrual of at least $574,000 in winnings, which he’s largely racked up during the strangest time in the long-lived game show’s history. Naturally, Amodio needed to address how he’s coping with the pressure during unusual circumstances, and his answer was a telling one. In order to stay focused on winning, he’s not thinking about the hosting issue at all:
“Frankly, the last thing I’m thinking about when I’m in the middle of a game is who’s hosting. I’ve had people say, ‘Oh man, you’ve moved on to your fourth host, that has to be difficult.’ And I would say, ‘Well, you’re right, but I didn’t even realize that, necessarily.’ Cause I’m trying to pull these really obscure facts out of my brain, and that takes all the mental energy I can afford at the moment.”
In other words, he’s keeping his “game face” on, which is about all that anyone can do to push through competition with outside forces threatening to distract. To a lesser degree, Amodio has also prevailed by getting that blue checkmark that he desired on Twitter. In other words, everything is coming up Amodio, and nothing is coming up Mike Richards. And the search for a host must go on.
(Via Washington Post)