“Jeopardy!” isn’t a show about drama, but heading into Monday’s episode, many fans are considering boycotting the beloved quiz show as Dr. Mehmet Oz steps up to guest host for the next two weeks.
“Jeopardy! celebrates knowledge and facts, and Dr. Oz has largely broken from that in his medical advice,” said Kristin Sausville, a five-game “Jeopardy!” champ from 2015, according to The Ringer.
“Not super interested in Dr. Oz hosting a show about correct information,” Louis Virtel, another “Jeopardy!” contestant from 2015, wrote on Twitter.
Many “Jeopardy!” fans have primarily expressed pushback because of what they consider to be misleading medical claims from Dr. Oz — including his push for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment in March 2020, The Wrap reported. On Monday, Yahoo News reported that some “Jeopardy!” fans are debating whether to tune in for the next two weeks.
But in an interview with USA Today last month, Mike Richards — the executive producer of “Jeopardy!” — encouraged fans to be “welcoming” to all of the guest hosts.
“‘Jeopardy!’ is about inclusion, and it’s a respite from what’s happening in the outside world,” Richards told USA Today. “As you watch guest hosts come through, you might like some, you might not like some others. Let’s be that welcoming ‘Jeopardy!’ community. Let us know what you think, but let’s all be kind and open. Because in the end, that’s what ‘Jeopardy!’ is and that’s what Alex was, and that’s the way we all should behave.”
Dr. Oz, who was a friend of the late Alex Trebek, will serve as the “Jeopardy!” guest host from March 22 to April 2. In an interview with “Jeopardy!” he shared one of his last memories of Trebek, who died in November 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Oz recalled how he was sitting in Trebek’s dressing room — both “Jeopardy!” and “The Dr. Oz Show” are distributed by Sony Pictures Television — when Trebek got up and said he wanted to show him something.
Dr. Oz thought the “Jeopardy!” host was taking him to see all of the Emmys and awards the quiz show has won over the years, but instead, Trebek brought him to a different display — a glass case filled with letters, pictures and prayer blankets.
Tokens of support from “Jeopardy!” fans all over the world as Trebek went through treatment for pancreatic cancer.
“That’s what Alex Trebek was about. He wanted for me to see that as really what he treasured the most after all these years of hosting the show,” Dr. Oz recalled. “And I still get goosebumps thinking about it, and talking about it.”
Dr. Oz, who filmed his “Jeopardy!” episodes in January, said he was initially “anxious” about hosting “Jeopardy!” but that the staff and crew helped to alleviate his nerves as time went on. On Monday morning, he posted on Twitter that hosting “Jeopardy!” is a “great honor and privilege.”
“Never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be able to come on this stage and host this show,” he said in his interview with “Jeopardy!”
Tonight (and for the next two weeks), I have the great honor and privilege of guest hosting @Jeopardy! Make sure to tune in. pic.twitter.com/gKQWx8gjn2
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) March 22, 2021
During his run as host, “Jeopardy!” will match all the contestants’ winnings and donate to HealthCorps, “a national 501c3 that has addressed health inequity by educating and empowering teens,” according to a news release. “Jeopardy!” previously raised $230,504 for Stand Up to Cancer during Katie Couric’s run as guest host, the Deseret News reported.
Ultimately, Dr. Oz said his main goal as “Jeopardy!” guest host is to help people understand that “knowledge is accessible.”
“I think a lot of people are intimated by the idea that they’re not going to know enough to be able to deal with the world around them, that they’re not as smart as the person next to them,” he said in the interview with “Jeopardy!” “That’s not true. We all know something. ... You all have something that you could be the world expert at. Go do that.”