‘Jeopardy!’ Confirms That Ken Jennings And Mayim Bialik Are Returning As Hosts, Along With Their Schedules

Jeopardy! has not been quite the same since host and Canadian and American treasure Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer at the end of 2020. Trebek had hosted the show for 37 seasons, so his exit was jarring for fans, who were unsure if the beloved trivia show would continue.

While they tested out other hosts, including the problematic Mike Richards and a slew of guest celebrities, the current season has been carried by longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings and actress/scientist Mayim Bialik. As fans had previously speculated, the rest of season 39 will be hosted by Jennings and Bialik, who will alternate their duties for the foreseeable future.

As Deadline pointed out, Jennings will host the first batch of episodes of Season 39, which starts taping in August, through December, with Bialik stepping in starting in January.

Producer Michael Davies wrote a lengthy blog post updating fans on the next phase of Jeopardy! content, which will also include a Second Chance Competition, a daily highlights reel, and, of course, a podcast! Here is an excerpt from Davies’ statement:

I write today with the exciting news that we have closed and signed deals with Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings to be the hosts of Jeopardy! moving forward.

The fact is, we have so much Jeopardy! to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed. And succeed it has. With Mayim and Ken hosting, the show is considerably up in viewership year over year, with more than 27M viewers tuning in each week this season. When you consider that almost every other show in broadcast television and syndication is declining, this has been a quite remarkable season: we’re the most-watched entertainment show on all of television. Yes, all of television.

In Mayim and Ken, we have two outstanding hosts at the beginning of their Jeopardy! hosting careers who connect with their own unique fanbases, new fans, and the traditional Jeopardy! viewer. Ken will kick off the season in September, host the inaugural Second Chance competition and the heavily anticipated Tournament of Champions featuring Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and many, many more. His initial hosting run will take us through December. In the meantime, Mayim will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in primetime. When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship and as many weeks as she can manage with her other primetime commitment to Call Me Kat. We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule.

You can check out the rest of Davies’ blog post here. Season 39 of Jeopardy! will begin airing this September.