'Jeopardy!' Fans Exchange Words Over Mayim Bialik's Return and Ken Jennings Leaving
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Mayim Bialik is officially back at the Jeopardy! lectern, and she’ll be giving clues for a while.
On January 31, The Big Bang Theory actress returned to the game show only days after Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider ended her historic 40-day winning streak with Ken Jennings at the podium. While fans will most likely see the Jeopardy! prodigy again before season 39 concludes in August, it’s now Mayim’s turn to lead contestants. What’s more, apart from resuming her weekday host duties, the Call Me Kat star is also hosting another special for the quiz show, the National College Championship.
But this sudden change in Jeopardy! hosts doesn’t sound like it’s sitting well with everyone tuning in from home. When Ken signed off on January 28 and handed over the reins to Mayim, many fans were upset on social media. “Bring @KenJennings back!!” one person tweeted. “I was actually a little sad Ken wasn’t hosting. I’d wish they just make up their mind and make Ken the permanent host with Mayim the host of the specials. Tired of guessing who’s going to be host each week,” another added. “Where is Ken 💔💔💔💔,” a different fan said on Instagram.
On the other hand, there were also Jeopardy! viewers just as thrilled to see Mayim come back to the show. “Yay Mayim is back. 🎉,” a follower commented on Instagram. “@missmayim is back! She is the best.. ❤️❤️🔥🔥,” someone else wrote. “It's Nice to see you again, Mayim Bialik,” another said.
So, why did Mayim start hosting again a week before the National College Championship began? We’re not sure but it might be due to schedule changes. Since Jeopardy!’s current season kicked off in September, Mayim and Ken have been a tag team — Mayim hosted from September 20 to November 5 and Ken stepped in from November 8 to January 28. It’s not certain how long Mayim will be hosting for but she’ll be on the trivia show for at least through February 22 when the National College Championship concludes.
After that, the show might choose to continue following its two-month cohosting period and Ken could return in March. But nothing has been announced so far.
During this time, Ken will probably be working behind the scenes as Jeopardy!’s consulting producer (a position he started in September 2020) and wait to be called back on to the stage. Meanwhile, Mayim will be focusing on hosting to the best of her ability and that includes limiting her scrolling time on the internet.
“Every host, as we learn from the guest-hosting situation, does bring a bit of their own personality,” she told Variety. “I stopped reading comments because some people were like, ‘She acts like she knows everything’ and other people were like ‘It’s clear she knows nothing.’ I’m like, well, it’s one or the other or somewhere in between. In terms of that, I try not to pay attention because people have such strong opinions about Jeopardy!. I’m female, and as much as men and women can and should do the same things, women are perceived differently.”
She continued: “I really try to be a neutral presence as much as possible so that it is not an issue. I get to be myself. I make a lot of stupid jokes. Ken and I both want to highlight our contestants, make them feel comfortable, make them feel good. The way he says things, I’m assuming he probably knows all those things. For me, I get to read them like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’”
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