Section Branding
Header Content
Mayim Bialik is out as a 'Jeopardy!' host, leaving longtime champ Ken Jennings to solo
Primary Content
Former Big Bang Theory actor Mayim Bialik will no longer appear as a host on the syndicated version of the game show Jeopardy!, she announced on her Instagram account.
"I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the Jeopardy! family," she wrote Friday.
She said Sony had informed her of its decision to have just one host for the forthcoming season, which the company confirmed in a statement.
The former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings had been hosting the most recent season on his own, and would continue to do so, Sony said in its statement, adding that it was "truly grateful" for Bialik's contribution to the show, and that executives hoped to work with her on prime-time specials in the future.
Bialik won a prime-time Emmy nomination for her hosting this year, and had split hosting responsibilities with Jennings but appeared as a solo host on the inaugural season of Celebrity Jeopardy!
Earlier this year she had stopped appearing on the show after declaring her support for the Hollywood writers' strike.
A former child star who shot to fame as the central role in the long-running early '90s NBC show Blossom, Bialik took up Jeopardy! hosting duties in 2021, alongside the show's executive producer Mike Richards.
Long-time host Alex Trebek died in 2020, prompting a months-long tryout period for a replacement that included news anchors like ABC's Robin Roberts and NBC's Savannah Guthrie.
Richards was replaced by Jennings later in 2021, after offensive comments he had previously made surfaced and forced him to step down.
Jennings became a household name after a 74-episode winning streak in the early 2000s that earned him more than $2.5 million in prize money.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
Bottom Content
