‘Jeopardy’ Announces Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik as Permanent Hosts

Jeopardy has chosen a final replacement for late host Alex Trebek, granting Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik permanent spots behind the podium. The show announced that the duo will take over as hosts with Jennings hosting the first stretch of episodes in Season 39, which starts taping next week and will go through December, with Bialik stepping in this January.

Bialik and Jennings previously shared Jeopardy hosting duties, filling in during alternating periods after former Jeopardy executive producer Mike Richards was chosen, then stepped down from his role as host and EP.

Richards was selected as Trebek’s replacement in August 2021, but lasted nine days before leaving the show over past derogatory comments he made about multiple groups, including Jewish people and women.

Today’s hosting announcement comes nearly a year after Richards stepped away from Jeopardy. With the exception of his brief tenure, the show has been without a permanent host since Trebek’s death in November 2020; his final episodes aired in January 2021.

Jeopardy tried out a rotating roster of hosts in 2021, tapping LeVar Burton, Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Oz, Savannah Guthrie and more, yielding mixed results. While some hosts were a clear hit with viewers (Burton), others were decidedly less popular (Oz).

Jennings and Bialik were named as Jeopardy hosts for Season 38 in December 2021. Jennings is a longtime fixture on the show, having pulled off the longest winning streak on Jeopardy as a contestant in 2004. Bialik, whom audiences may recognize for her roles on The Big Bang Theory and Blossom, is also a scientist who earned her PhD in neuroscience from UCLA.

Jeopardy executive producer Michael Davies previously teased the show’s forthcoming hosting announcement backstage at the 2022 Daytime Emmys, telling Variety the show was hoping to share new hosts “very soon,” and adding, “But with all of our plans for Jeopardy! — which is more Jeopardy!, not less, more versions —we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward.”