LeVar Burton was the fan favorite choice to become the full-time Jeopardy! host, but executives “didn’t think he was the right fit.” To be fair, this assessment wasn’t only directed at the Star Trek legend — “the same can be said about almost all the other guest hosts,” according to TMZ — but considering this cold bowl of soup got the gig (before his embarrassing exit), maybe he should have been considered.
But it turns out, after his trial run as host, Burton didn’t want the permanent gig.
“I made it public that I wanted it for myself, that it made sense to me, and [the fans] were all about it. It made as much sense to them as it did to me. And, so, they wanted it for me as much as I wanted it,” he told Trevor Noah on The Daily Show. “The crazy thing is that when you set your sights on something, you know, they say be careful of what you wish for, because what I found out is that it wasn’t the thing that I wanted after all.”
Burton continued:
“What I wanted was to compete. I mean, I wanted the job, right, but when I didn’t get it, it was, like, well, OK, what’s next? And, so, the opportunities that have come my way as a result of not getting that gig, I couldn’t have dreamt it up. If you had given me a pen and paper and said, ‘Well, so what do you want this to really look like if it doesn’t include Jeopardy!?’ I wouldn’t have been this generous to myself.”
The “LeVar Burton hosting Jeopardy!” ship has sailed (sorry to all those petitions), but he said he’s “trying to figure out what the right game show for LeVar Burton would be.” Are you thinking what I’m thinking? The time is right to bring back Tattletales.
You can watch The Daily Show interview above.