Jeopardy! Fans will no longer have to squirm watching Mike Richards host the show since his last episode as “permanent” host aired on Friday. Beginning Monday, The Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik will take over, following her successful guest host-run last season. Bialik will continue hosting the show through early November when former Jeopardy! Ken Jennings, the champion, will be taking over.
“My episodes start airing tomorrow!! So excited to get to keep doing this [Jeopardy!] work which I love so much,” Bailik posted on the Instagram post-Sunday. “And thank you [Ken Jennings], the living legend, who will be tackling hosting duties for the next few months as well!” The Call Me Kat star also shared the Jeopardy! team’s announcement from last week.
When Sony Pictures Television announced, Richards would be hosting Jeopardy! The studio named Bialik the primetime host to start this season. In the last season’s guest hosts try-outs, Bialik was the guest host for two consecutive weeks in May and June. Bialik will now serve as the host of the regular syndicated weekday Jeopardy! Through Nov. 5. Jennings and Bialik then will split hosting duties according to their schedules.
Since Richards was technically the “permanent” Jeopardy! His episodes aired even though he was only the host for one day. On Aug. 20, the day after those episodes were filmed, Sony finally removed Richards after The Ringer published excerpts from Richards’ offensive comments in a podcast recorded during his time as an executive producer on The Price is Right. Richards remained executive producer on both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune until Aug. 31, when Sony finally removed him from that position as well. “We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! It would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks,” Suzanne Prete was the executive vice president for business and strategy on both shows. This memo was sent to staff. “That clearly has not happened.”
Richards’ episodes coincided perfectly with Matt Amodio’s historic run. He won his 23rd straight episode and will be trying to extend that streak in Monday’s episode. During an interview with The Washington Post, Amodio said he benefitted from the host drama because it took attention away from his streak. “I’m an introverted person; I’ve never experienced even moderate amounts of attention, much less this much attention,” He told The Post. “I’m kind of surprised I’ve enjoyed it.”