A year and a half after Alex Trebek’s death, “Jeopardy!” is finally getting close to announcing its new host — or hosts.
On June 24, the quiz show took home the Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding game show, and executive producer Michael Davies — who took over after the Mike Richards scandal — teased a major development regarding the show’s future.
“We hope to have a hosting announcement very, very soon,” he said, according to Variety. “But with all of our plans for ‘Jeopardy!’ — which is more ‘Jeopardy!,’ not less, more versions — we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward.”
Who is hosting ‘Jeopardy!’ now?
Currently, “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” champion Ken Jennings and “Big Bang Theory” star Mayim Bialik are sharing hosting responsibilities — an arrangement that was scheduled to carry through the show’s 38th season that concludes July 29, the Deseret News reported. That move came after “Jeopardy!” saw 16 guest hosts during its 37th season — everyone from Aaron Rodgers to Katie Couric to LeVar Burton to Dr. Oz.
Both Jennings and Bialik have expressed interest in becoming the full-time host, the Deseret News reported. Earlier this year, fans speculated Jennings may become the host when he announced he was leaving the trivia show “The Chase.”
In 2020, a few months after winning the “Greatest of All Time” tournament, Jennings told the Deseret News that hosting the show was “absolutely a dream job.”
‘Jeopardy!’ is moving forward
“Jeopardy!” taking home the outstanding game show award comes after a tumultuous season that saw former executive producer Mike Richards — who Sony had initially tapped to be the permanent host — step down from the show altogether.
Richards’ firing came after past controversies came to light, including his “offensive language” and disparaging remarks about women’s bodies on a podcast, which resurfaced in a report from The Ringer last year.
“The scandal was, as we call it at ‘Jeopardy!,’ ‘the awkward months,’” Davies said at the Daytime Emmy Awards, according to Variety. “But it showed the power of our audience and how passionately our fans care about the program, which is just so important.
“What’s happened over the course of the season — Matt Amodio, and Amy Schneider and Mattea (Roach) and Ryan (Long) — really made us just remember how incredible the game is. The stars of our show and Mayim and Ken have done incredible job hosting.”