Longtime fans of “Jeopardy!” were furious, with many threatening to boycott the show, when Ken Jennings was replaced for some episodes by “Call Me Kat” actress Mayim Bialik. The two split hosting duties, with Bialik hosting “Celebrity Jeopardy!” and special tournaments and Jennings hosting both the Second Chance Tournament and the Tournament of Champions.
The announcement that Bialik was replacing Jennings led to fire and fury from many on Twitter, with people blasting the show’s hosting change. “Will not be watching @Jeopardy until @KenJennings becomes the primary and only host. This switching stuff sucks! #boycottjeopardy because they have idiots running it. What a mess,” one person said. “And I am permanently not watching,” declared another furious former fan.
Then Jennings came back for an episode that aired on Monday night, and fans of the show again took to Twitter, this time to praise his return and demand he be made the permanent host. “Ken Jennings is back hosting Jeopardy. All seems right in the world. #Jeopardy,” tweeted one of Jennings’ many fans. “No question, Ken is more spontaneous, fluid, and quick-witted #jeopardy,” said a second commenter.
Those comments were far from all of it. One advised that the show should refuse to let Bialik back on and just keep Jennings, saying, “Ken Jennings is soooo much better than Mayim Bialik as Jeopardy host. Please don’t let her back on the air.” Another said that Jennings should be the permanent host, posting, “Can we just make Ken Jennings the permanent Jeopardy host already?! He’s way more personable than Mayim Bialik.”
“Jeapordy!” executive producer Michael Davies announced the Jennings and Bialik decision in a statement released in the summer of 2022, writing, “I write today with the exciting news that we have closed and signed deals with Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings to be the hosts of Jeopardy! moving forward.”
Continuing, he explained why the two hosts were put on the show instead of just one, writing, “The fact is, we have so much Jeopardy! to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed. And succeed it has. With Mayim and Ken hosting, the show is considerably up in viewership year over year, with more than 27M viewers tuning in each week this season. When you consider that almost every other show in broadcast television and syndication is declining, this has been a quite remarkable season: we’re the most-watched entertainment show on all of television. Yes, all of television.”
Then, describing their split between the different game shows, he said, “In Mayim and Ken, we have two outstanding hosts at the beginning of their Jeopardy! hosting careers who connect with their own unique fanbases, new fans, and the traditional Jeopardy! viewer. Ken will kick off the season in September, host the inaugural Second Chance competition and the heavily anticipated Tournament of Champions featuring Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and many, many more. His initial hosting run will take us through December. In the meantime, Mayim will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in primetime. When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship and as many weeks as she can manage with her other primetime commitment to “Call Me Kat.” We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule.”
Bialik featured image credit: By Mayim_Bialik_at_the_36th_Annual_Gracie_Awards_Gala.jpg: Mingle MediaTVderivative work: Tabercil (talk) – Mayim_Bialik_at_the_36th_Annual_Gracie_Awards_Gala.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15541655; Jennings featured image credit: By Phil Konstantin – File:KenJenningsByPhilKonstantin.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71567461
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