‘Everything Will Be Revealed’: LeVar Burton Claims He Wasn’t Offered The ‘Jeopardy!’ Gig Because ‘The Fix Was In’

LeVar Burton has landed two hosting gigs, but not the one (he thought) he wanted: Jeopardy! Despite numerous fan campaigns to have the Star Trek: The Next Generation and Reading Rainbow star take over the full-time gig following Alex Trebek’s death, the show went in another direction — it did not go well. Burton has since said that he’s “really happy with the way things worked out,” but he talked about the “humiliation” of not being offered the job in a recent interview with Newsy‘s “In the Loop.”

“Experiencing a very public defeat — humiliation, if you will — was sobering. And what I learned from the experience, really, is that it reinforced my belief that everything happens for a reason, even if you cannot discern the reason in the moment,” Burton said. The actor, who called Jeopardy! his “favorite game show,” thought he was “well-suited” for the hosting gig, but “as it turns out, it really wasn’t a competition, after all, the fix was in.”

He continued:

“In the fullness of time, everything will be revealed. And like I said, it was I think in that first week of feeling really sort of not just disappointed, but wrecked. I didn’t expect that I would not be their choice for host.”

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Burton called getting asked to host the Scripps National Spelling Bee a “huge balm on an open wound. And I thought ‘Ah, they see me,’ and I’m definitely one to go where I’m wanted and loathe to go where I’m not invited.” The spelling bee final airs June 2.