Mayim Bialik to Guest Host Jeopardy! Following Mike Richards' Exit; 10 People Who Should Be The New Host of 'Jeopardy!'

Elyse Dupre of E! News

Mayim Bialik will fill in as guest host of Jeopardy! this week following Mike Richards' departure.

According to Sony Pictures Television, the actress is scheduled to tape three weeks' worth of episodes (15) when production resumes this week. Jeopardy! will then bring on additional guest hosts as its search for Alex Trebek's successor continues.

The news comes less than two weeks after Bialik was named host of Jeopardy!'s primetime specials and spin-offs and Richards was named host of the daily syndicated program. Richards then stepped down from the position last week after offensive remarks he made on a podcast between 2013 and 2014 resurfaced.

"It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter," he said in a letter shared with the Jeopardy! team on Aug. 20 and obtained by NBC News. "As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role. However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show. As such, I will be stepping down as host effective immediately."

Sony Pictures Television said Richards will maintain his role as executive producer.

"We support Mike's decision to step down as host," the company said in a statement to NBC. "We were surprised this week to learn of Mike's 2013/2014 podcast and the offensive language he used in the past. We have spoken with him about our concerns and our expectations moving forward. Mike has been with us for the last two years and has led the Jeopardy! team through the most challenging time the show has ever experienced. It is our hope that as EP he will continue to do so with professionalism and respect."


According to The Ringer, Richards made disparaging remarks about Jewish people, women and Haiti on his podcast The Randumb Show about seven years ago. The original recordings, which E! News has not listened to, have since been deleted.

"It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago," he said in a statement to E! News. "Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry. The podcast was intended to be a series of irreverent conversations between longtime friends who had a history of joking around. Even with the passage of time, it's more than clear that my attempts to be funny and provocative were not acceptable, and I have removed the episodes. My responsibilities today as a father, husband, and a public personality who speaks to many people through my role on television means I have substantial and serious obligations as a role model, and I intend to live up to them."

Richards also received backlash after viewers recalled his involvement in a discrimination lawsuit. According to The Associated Press, a former model on The Price is Right, another show Richards executive produced, received more than $7.7 million in punitive damages in 2012 after a jury determined she was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Richards denied the mistreatment allegations during the trial.

"These were allegations made in employment disputes against the show," he also wrote in part of an email to Jeopardy! employees earlier this month. "I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on The Price is Right. I know firsthand how special it is to be a parent. It is the most important thing in the world to me. I would not say anything to disrespect anyone's pregnancy and have always supported my colleagues on their parenting journeys."

Talia Lakritz of INSIDER

10 People Who Should Be The New Host of Jeopardy!

• Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards stepped down as host after past controversies surfaced.
  
• Ken Jennings is reportedly a front-runner to replace him, while the fan favorite is LeVar Burton.
  
• Here are 10 people we think would do a great job as the new Jeopardy! host.

Ken Jennings emerged as the new front-runner to replace executive producer Mike Richards after he stepped down as host.

Jennings won 74 straight games in 2004, setting the record for the show's longest winning streak. He returned for the Greatest of All Time tournament in 2020 and won that, too. He now works on Jeopardy! as a segment producer.

CNN's Brian Stelter reported that Jennings was a finalist for the hosting job before Richards' brief time in the role and remains a favorite in the new search.

The name Ken Jennings is already synonymous with Jeopardy! His clear love and respect for the game makes him a worthy contender.

Over 271,000 fans have signed a petition to make LeVar Burton the new host of Jeopardy!

Burton played engineer Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: the Next Generation and hosted 21 seasons of the educational children's show Reading Rainbow. He's the clear fan favorite for the hosting job, with celebrities like Stephen Colbert voicing their support.

Burton won Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1995, and he served as a guest host this past season. He has talked about wanting to host the show for years, and the audience is clearly on his side. After the controversy surrounding Richards' appointment and departure, the show is in desperate need of a wholly unproblematic, beloved figure who embodies the wholesomeness at the heart of Jeopardy!

Mayim Bialik is already slated to host Jeopardy! primetime and spin-off specials, so she could take over daily hosting duties, as well

She has also been named as the first guest host to take over when filming begins on the new season this week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She will film 15 episodes over three weeks.

Bialik's appointment as Jeopardy! host is not without controversies of its own, and there are questions over whether she can fit full-time hosting duties around filming her Fox show Call Me Kat. But her infectious enthusiasm and authoritative command of the board made her undeniably one of the best guest hosts this past season. It wouldn't be a huge leap for the producers to promote her to the show's full-time host.

Green Bay Packers quarterback and Celebrity Jeopardy! champion Aaron Rodgers made a strong case to become the permanent host with his lively guest-host spot this season.

Rodgers took his guest hosting duties seriously. NBC's Peter King wrote that he prepared for hosting Jeopardy! like it was an NFL playoff game, studying hours of old episodes and rehearsing potential scenarios. A few humorous moments between Rodgers and Jeopardy! contestants also made his episodes fun to watch.

He wasn't shy about expressing his interest in the role.

"I don't think I'd need to give up football to do it," Rodgers told The Ringer's Claire McNear in April. "They film 46 days a year. I worked 178 this year in Green Bay ... I feel like I could fit 46 into that 178 and make it work. It would be a dream job for sure, and I'm not shy at all about saying I want the job. That's how I went into it. I want an opportunity to be in the mix."

Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts impressed audiences with her turn guest-hosting Jeopardy! this season.

Roberts became the first Black woman to host Jeopardy! this past season, and she called it "a once-in-a-lifetime experience I will never forget." She struck the perfect balance of warmth and gravitas in the role, putting contestants at ease and delivering clues with the clarity of an experienced news anchor — she would be a fitting replacement as full-time host.

Before his death, Alex Trebek named CNN legal analyst Laura Coates as a potential successor.

In a 2018 interview with TMZ, Trebek named Coates as someone he would like to see take over for him when he retired. At the time, Coates replied on Twitter: "Incredibly honored & humbled [that Jeopardy's Alex Trebek] 1) knows who I am 2) thinks I'd be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I'm a genius)."

Coates was snubbed from the lineup of guest hosts this past season. It would be a touching tribute to Trebek's legacy to pass on his role to someone he thought would do it well, and by hiring a host who isn't already a household name, it would keep the focus on the contestants.

Trebek also named Los Angeles Kings announcer Alex Faust as someone he would like to see take over his role.

Trebek also told TMZ in 2018 that he could see Faust replacing him when he retired. The sports announcer was not invited as a guest host this past season, but he could potentially have his chance to try out the role during the upcoming round of guest hosts in the fall.

Like Coates, hiring Faust would honor Trebek's wishes and keep the focus on the contestants.

It would be amazing to see Stephen Colbert read off clues to categories about his areas of expertise like the Bible or Lord of the Rings.

Colbert has thrown his support behind Burton's bid for the hosting job, so it seems unlikely that he would ever be in the running. But the quick-witted late-night host would make Jeopardy! even more fun to watch with quality banter and his delightfully nerdy disposition.

Julie Chen has hosted Big Brother for over two decades, but she'd be a great Jeopardy! host too.

Chen has hosted Big Brother since 2000, and she told Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross that she intends to continue hosting "as long as I can form a sentence."

That kind of hosting longevity would serve Jeopardy! well, as Trebek hosted the show for 37 years.

Chen was also friends with Trebek. After his passing, she posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram calling him "Always a class act, and a prototype of perfection when it comes to being a host."

Natalie Portman was voted "most likely to be a contestant on 'Jeopardy!'" in her high school yearbook. She'd be a great host, too.

This one is a long shot, but like Bialik, Portman is a talented actress with academic prowess. She holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard and has been published twice in scientific journals.

If she wasn't too busy filming the Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder, Portman would bring star power and intellectual curiosity to the hosting gig.