How 2021 Almost Destroyed ‘Jeopardy’

Jeopardy isn’t just a game show. It’s an American institution. Under the steady stewardship of host Alex Trebek, the syndicated series became both a comfort and a national treasure over the last few decades. Its consistency was its key. Every time you tuned in, you knew that there would be oodles of trivia questions, a few frustrating stumpers, and Trebek’s refined presence. The contestants might have quirky anecdotes or be celebrity doppelgangers, but usually the only source of drama came from risky bets on Daily Doubles.

That is, until 2021 rolled around.

2021 was the year Jeopardy found itself in jeopardy. In the wake of Alex Trebek’s death, the show’s producers created a star-studded Hunger Games-esque hunt for his replacement. While the months of rotating celeb guest hosts certainly pulled in ratings for Jeopardy, the show’s ultimate top pick turned out to be controversial, to say the least. Add to that the fact that many of Jeopardy‘s most prominent guest hosts threatened to mire the show in scandals of their own and Jeopardy‘s future looked wobbly at times. 2021 was the year that fans saw the ugly side of Jeopardy and proved what a magical unicorn of a host Alex Trebek had been.

Jeopardy first premiered on TV way back in 1964, but the Jeopardy we all know and love began in 1984. That’s when the show hit daily syndication with a charming (then) mustached Canadian named Alex Trebek as host. Trebek had the rare ability to smoothly take the spotlight and know when to give it up. For him, the contestants were the stars. He was just there as emcee. Trebek’s hosting style was such a hit, he would have the gig until his death in November 2020. Trebek’s death was an utter tragedy for fans of the show.  Jeopardy‘s most singular guiding hand was lost. An icon who had welcomed us onto the Jeopardy set every day for decades was gone. However it wouldn’t be until 2021 that the true scope of his loss would be felt on the show.

The last Jeopardy episodes Trebek shot before his death from pancreatic cancer were banked so they could air in January 2021. Around this time it was announced that a rotating roster of guest hosts would fill in for Jeopardy‘s fallen icon until a permanent replacement was announced. Names included the likes of Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Aaron Rodgers, Ken Jennings, Mayim Bialik, Sanjay Gupta, and Jeopardy producer Mike Richards. Fans met each guest host with an appraising eye, tweeting who was strong in the role and who flailed. However it was obvious from fan chatter that there was one man everyone wanted to have a trial at the gig whom Jeopardy was oddly snubbing: Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Reading Rainbow star LeVar Burton.

Jeopardy eventually gave Burton a try behind the podium, but something already felt fishy about the whole search for a new host. Something felt fixed. These suspicions were confirmed when Jeopardy announced that its own EP, Mike Richards, had won the gig (with Mayim Bialik taking primetime and spin-off hosting duties). After all that, it was an inside pick. If fans felt bamboozled by the show’s producers, they felt outright betrayed when numerous distressing tales of Richards’s past behavior on game show productions emerged. Richards had canned a handful of episodes as permanent host before the scandal forced him to exit the show.

Since the Mike Richards debacle, Jeopardy seems to have found its footing again with fan favorite champion Ken Jennings hosting the main syndicated show. Nevertheless, as a life-long Jeopardy fan, it’s wild how close the beloved game show came to just collapsing into nothingness in 2021. The wild guest host round robin might have juiced Jeopardy‘s ratings, but it ultimately left the franchise exposed to more scandals. Let’s not forget how badly Aaron Rodgers was gunning for the gig before we learned he was lying about being vaccinated against COVID-19. LeVar Burton left the experience seeming disillusioned by the whole Jeopardy operation. Each scandal and story that emerged during this great host hunt seemed to ding the formerly unassailable franchise. It was heartbreaking to see the show — which had once been a bastion of comforting consistency on the ever-changing TV landscape — struggle through the chaos.

The future of Jeopardy might be secure for now, but 2021 proved how much the show’s success had been thanks to Alex Trebek. The tumult that emerged around finding his replacement spoke to what a stabilizing force he had been for the show. It was Trebek who established Jeopardy‘s tone, rhythm, and spirit. And it’s Alex Trebek whom Jeopardy fans will never forget.

Where to stream Jeopardy