Mayim Bialik Goes Missing From New ‘Jeopardy!’ Promo Photo: What Does This Snub Mean?

By Samantha Nungesser @samjnungesser
Published Aug. 21, 2023, 2:02 p.m. ET

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Did Jeopardy! just shade Mayim Bialik? In a new post on the game show’s Instagram page, the co-host — who skipped out on taping her last week to join the WGA strike — was seemingly snubbed from a photo celebrating Season 39.

The photoshopped picture featured co-host Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! Masters champion James Holzhauer, 2022’s Tournament of Champions winner Amy Schneider and runner-up Andrew He as well as Season 39 favorites Ben Chan and Cris Pannullo. However, Bialik — who was named a permanent co-host along with Jennings at the start of Season 39 — was nowhere to be found.

“And that’s a wrap! 🎬 What were some of your favorite moments from S39?” the photo was captioned.

While she may have been absent from the social media pic, the Call Me Kat actress — whose hosting run lasted from January to May — still made it to the website‘s Top 10 moments from the most recent season, which wrapped in early July. On the March 1 episode that was cited in the roundup, contestant Dan Oxman revealed that Bialik was his childhood crush.

So was leaving her out a mistake? Was it on purpose? That still has yet to be discovered.

Decider has reached out to Jeopardy! for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.

It’s no secret that viewers of the long-running show aren’t the biggest fans of Bialik. When the duo’s alternating schedules were announced earlier this year, many called for the network to get rid of the Big Bang Theory star and keep Jennings as the sole host. The comments section of the show’s recent post echoed similar sentiments.

Eventually, Bialik stepped away from hosting to stand in solidarity with the Hollywood writers on strike — many of whom write the quiz show’s material. As a result, Jennings took back over for the final week before their summer hiatus — prompting his own set of backlash for crossing the picket line.

Still, the former champion will continue to host Season 40, which began filming last week. According to Jeopardy! showrunner Michael Davies, the upcoming installment with move forward using recycled material the writers wrote before the strike, and will also bring back returning contestants for Second Chance Tournament.