Jeopardy! Officially Found Its Host In Mike Richards, Who No One Wanted

The time is here, and it seems as if Jeopardy! has finally found its new host! And it’s … the show’s executive producer Mike Richards? Did he just … give himself the job?

So Jeopardy! thinks that they’re going to just announce Mike Richards as the host and we’re going to be okay with that?

(Marvel)

The trivia show lost Alex Trebek back in November of 2020 and since has had a long line of guest hosts until they found the right fit for the show. According to The New York Times, the show decided that its own executive producer was a better choice than fan favorites for the job—despite Mike Richards having discrimination allegations against him. The show is also adding Mayim Bialik to host primetime and spinoff specials of the show.

It’s also not great to add Mayim Bialik to the cast in response to the allegations against Mike Richards when she had to issue this apology after writing a very victim-blamey op-ed about the Weinstein victims.

It’s frustrating because, from the jump, fans have been vocal about their love of LeVar Burton and how we wanted him to host. Not only did he only get one week of guest-hosting duty when most the earlier hosts got two weeks, but he was clearly the frontrunner in the eyes of fans of the show. Instead, Mike Richards gave himself the job despite many voicing their issues when the rumor that this would happen came out last week.

But when you’re the executive producer, you can just give yourself the job, right? No need to have any sort of qualifications!

Look, Mike Richards could have been added as the host from the jump, and we would have thought “Who? Whatever” and probably moved on, but instead, the show went through months of celebrities hosting the show and seemingly “auditioning” for the job, only for Richards to take it? It seems like all of that was for show at this point.

Sure, Burton maybe wasn’t on their radar and they let him host for fans who started the campaign for him, but it just seems like a slap in the face to everyone who hosted for Richards to end up with the job. Beyond the allegations against Richards (which should have put a pause on this process), it’s just an annoyingly boring choice for the show.

(image: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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