Hosting Jeopardy! is all but officially a job for more than one person, but as current co-host Mayim Bialik has detailed, sometimes that situation doesn’t feel too great when fans get critical. Bialik, who served as a guest host in the wake of Alex Trebek’s death and later signed on to co-host the show with Ken Jennings on a more permanent basis, has gotten some tips on the job in the months since she and Jennings took control of Season 38.
She’s also gotten plenty of attention from eagle-eyed viewers, who even noticed when she repeated an outfit during two different tapings. And while some of that attention to detail has been positively met by Bialik, she recently admitted that it’s been tough to be compared to other hosts.
As Newsweek pointed out, Bialik spoke on her podcast recently with Justin Long about how fans have treated her in the months since she took the co-hosting reigns. The actress has spoken about how passionate fans of the show are, but it doesn’t always mean they have nice things to say about her work.
Actor and comedian Long broached the subject, when he asked Bialik if she was ever made aware that she was favored over Jennings by Jeopardy! fans.
“Sometimes,” Bialik responded, adding that “sometimes I get, ‘We don’t prefer you to Ken.’”
Noting how celebrities are often seen, Long said: “Isn’t that wild—well, it’s probably the only profession that I can think of, or maybe politicians—where people will tell you deeply insulting things but with a big smile?”
That’s pretty tame compared to what else is out there when it comes to anonymous online criticism. When you’re vying for a gig hosting one of the most beloved game shows on television, criticism is inevitable. And fans do have their favorites, even if they didn’t do very well hosting, either. But you have to feel for Bialik, who wasn’t responsible for how Jeopardy‘s executive producers have conducted their very public search for a true Trebek replacement. Neither Jennings nor Bialik wanted to make it a competition, and neither of them rigged the game for Mike Richards in the first place. All they’re trying to do now is their jobs, even if that’s inevitably going to make some trivia fans upset regardless of who gets to host Jeopardy!