‘Jeopardy!’ Is Reportedly Just Going To Keep Having Mayim Bialik And Ken Jennings Swap Hosting Duties For The Foreseeable Future

Last summer, Jeopardy! — the brianiac’s game show — finally ran into major controversy. No, we don’t mean people taking umbrage with Matt Amodio’s controversial answering habit. We mean Mike “Not Michael” Richards, the producer who made a disastrous attempt to take over permanent hosting duties. Since then, the show has alternated between two of the most popular fill-in hosts: Mayim Bialik and all-time champion Ken Jennings. This was supposed to be a temporary solution. But now it’s going to be temporary for a bit longer.

Sources tell Deadline that Jeopardy! top brass has decided that they’re going to stick with the two-host format they’ve had since autumn of last year, signing them up for the show’s 39th season. That means Jennings and Bialik are effectively tag team hosts: She holds down the fort for a stretch, then pass it off to him, rinse, wash, repeat. The decision has yet to be confirmed by Jeopardy! highers-up.

After the passing of Alex Trebek, who hosted the show since 1984 until his death in late 2020, Jennings was the first person to fill in as a temporary replacement. Bialik was one of a number of guest hosts to take over in early 2021. Aside from the Mike Richards drama of last summer, Jeopardy! has mostly (but not always) been a fount of good news, including multiple big-time winners having record runs. So maybe it’s best not to mess with something that’s working, as least not yet.