‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mayim Bialik Tested Positive For COVID-19 And Called Her Symptoms “No Joke”

Jeopardy! has had a long string of hosts since the death of Alex Trebek, though the show has largely settled on a mix of Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings. The former is currently slated to host most of the show’s tapings, including some primetime specials on ABC.

But Jeopardy! fans got worrying news on Tuesday when Bialik revealed that she recently tested positive for COVID-19. Bialik broke the news on Instagram and later expanded on the announcement on an account related to her podcast, Bialik Breakdown.

“It’s very, very exhausting,” Bialik said. “The exhaustion is very special. I had mononucleosis in college, and the exhaustion hits like that. Where you cannot be awake. You can try to be awake, but all of a sudden, you need to sleep.”

The news is worrying to anyone concerned about the health and wellness of people during the still-ongoing pandemic, but it does come with some good caveats. Namely, that Bialik is fully vaccinated and boosted, which will help limit the severity of her symptoms as well as hopefully limit her odds of seeing long COVID symptoms. The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday that Sony reps did not comment on how this would impact filming Jeopardy! but it’s a concern given the rigorous schedule the show has in filming five episodes a day. Bialik did update her status on Tuesday, saying she’s feeling a bit better.

She also warned against thinking that the pandemic is over, noting that she’s “feeling a whole bunch of regret that I ever took my mask off.”

“I’m just putting this out there: I’m feeling a lot of fear,” Bialik said. “Like why did I ever go out Why did I think that anything was fine, ever”

It’s also noteworthy because Bialik’s thoughts on vaccination were a topic of interest among Jeopardy! fans last year when vaccine skepticism in a book she wrote went viral. Bialik affirmed that her thoughts on vaccine safety and efficacy had changed, and her COVID vaccination status certainly seems to reflect that here.

Hopefully, Bialik recovers soon and is back to feeling 100 percent in time to film whatever Jeopardy! episodes are on the horizon for her. Fans of the syndicated game show are certainly looking for some confirmation about just exactly who will be hosting their beloved trivia show very soon.

[via THR]