Who Is Mike Richards, the Potential New ‘Jeopardy!’ Host?

Mike Richards, an executive producer at Jeopardy! who filled in as a guest host February 22 through March 5 is reportedly in advanced talks with top brass to make his time at the podium permanent. While the specifics aren’t known, and other guest hosts could still be considered — which could mean anyone from CNN newsman Anderson Cooper and actress/neuroscientist Mayim Bialik to people’s champ LeVar Burton, or Good Morning America host Robin Roberts still has a shot — the Variety report calls Richards the clear front-runner.

But who is Mike Richards, the potential new host of Jeopardy!? And why does ending a question with the proper name of the game show annoyingly form a pseudo-interrobang? The second question is easy to answer, it just does. For the former? It’s a good question because unlike the higher profile names such as Burton and Cooper, Richards is — for Jeopardy! audiences, at least — a relative unknown. Read on:

Who is Mike Richards? Meet The New (Potential) Jeopardy! Host

Richards, a 46-year-old native of Burbank, California, is no stranger to the the game show biz. In 2007, he was considered for the Price is Right hosting gig that eventually went to Drew Carey before becoming a co-executive producer of that program and Let’s Make a Deal. Richards has also served as host of the Ashton Kutcher-produced WB reality competition show Beauty and the Geek and the Reelz Channel entertainment news outlet Dailies.

In 2012, Richards hosted The Pyramid, Game Show Network’s ante-increased reboot of the 1970’s game show The 10,000 Pyramid, and he followed that with emcee duties for another GSN outlet, Divided, which he hosted in 2016 and ‘17.

By 2019, Richards was back in the executive producer’s chair, teaming with host Jimmy Kimmel to shepherd the celebrity edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Why Is Jeopardy! Considering Mike Richards For The Permanent Host Position?

Richards’ time at Who Wants to be a Millionaire? led to his current job as Executive Producer of a little show called… Jeopardy! Yep, Richards has a ton of experience with the show, and worked hand in hand with Alex Trebek before he passed, so Richards is intimately familiar with the game, and how it works.

All told, Variety reports, Richards has had a hand in producing over 4,000 hours of game show programming. That’s a lot of buzzing, schmoozing, and wheel-spinning!

Richards has been nominated for 17 Daytime Emmy Awards, and won three. (Under his watch as co-producer, The Price is Right won Outstanding Game Show in 2013, ‘16, and ‘18.) As his Jeopardy! bio also notes, he worked closely with television production titan Dick Clark as a vice president of development, and also has experience as a standup comedian, a skill set that could come in handy during those sometimes awkward “get to know you” contestant segments on Jeopardy!

After all of the hubbub over the selection of and appearances by multiple celebrity guest hosts, does the answer of permanent Jeopardy! host come down to “Who is Mike Richards?” It sounds like we’ll soon find out.

Where to watch Jeopardy!