Mayim Bialik Says Her 15-Year-Old Son Encouraged Her to Guest Host Jeopardy!

Jeopardy/Instagram Mayim Bialik

Mayim Bialik kicked off her second week as the guest host of Jeopardy! on Monday - and the actress had a very special person to thank for getting her there.

"As I start my second week of guest-hosting Jeopardy!, I want to thank my 15-year-old, Miles," Bialik, 45, said at the top of the show. "He was the one who first suggested I give this a try and I hope I am making him and his little brother, Frederick, proud."

Bialik is the latest host of the iconic game show in a string of guests that has included Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper and Aaron Rodgers. Bill Whitaker, Dr. Oz and Ken Jennings also had stints at the Jeopardy! lectern recently, with LeVar Burton, Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, David Faber, and Joe Buck on the docket.

RELATED: Mayim Bialik Says It's an 'Immense Honor' to Guest Host Jeopardy!: 'An Unbelievable Opportunity'

Last week, Bialik - who has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA - said it was an "immense honor" to be named as one of the celebrity guest hosts in the wake of Alex Trebek's death last November.

"This is such an iconic and unbelievable piece of our collective culture, to be considered to be part of it really in any way, it's an immense honor," she said in a Jeopardy! interview. "Especially for someone who's dedicated so much of my life to academia to knowing things and to being able to communicate things."

Never miss a story - sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Being a woman of science, as I am, is something that I'm obviously very passionate about presenting myself as," she continued. "I really didn't grow up with a lot of female role models and I think especially for young people - not just young girls, but for young girls and boys - to see that women can be scientists and can do these types of intellectual things, that feels very important to me."

Mayim Bialik/Instagram Mayim Bialik

RELATED: The Best (& Worst) Jeopardy! Celebrity Guest Host Show Moments So Far

Like the guest hosts before her, the Call Me Kat star has chosen a charity that will receive a donation in the amount of the cumulative winnings of the contestants who competed during her time as a host. Bialik chose the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.

The podcast host told PEOPLE back in March that she was "nervous" for the "responsibility" and "iconic pressure" that would come with hosting.

"I've been saying it's really one of the most iconic things I think that I'm ever going to do in my career," she said at the time. "It's going to feel like Forrest Gump, like I've been inserted into the Jeopardy! set."

Jeopardy! airs weeknights in syndication (check local listings).