Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik will temporarily share hosting duties of Jeopardy!, serving as hosts for the show until the end of the year as the program continues its search for a permanent replacement.
Bialik will host all of the episodes airing from Sept. 20 to Nov. 5, after which Bialik and Jennings will split hosting duties as their schedules allow for the remainder of 2021, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Thursday. Jennings already served as an interim host for the show in November 2020, while Bialik was selected to host a prime-time spinoff in August.
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“Not sure if you’ve heard but Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings and are hosting me until the end of the year,” the show posted on Twitter. “Everyone on the staff is supralunar.”
Not sure if you’ve heard but @missmayim and @kenjennings are hosting me until the end of the year. Everyone on the staff is supralunar. pic.twitter.com/mpYVpusQ7V
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) September 16, 2021
Bialik, an actress known for her roles on The Big Bang Theory and Blossom who also holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience, served as a Jeopardy! guest host for two weeks in May and June, where she was a “fan-favorite,” Sony said.
Jennings went on to win 74 games during his 2004 appearances on the show, an unprecedented streak worth $2.52 million. He went on to compete in multiple special Jeopardy! tournaments, including the special event Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time, where he defeated Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer. Jennings also joined the show as a consulting producer later that year, the studio said.
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Jeopardy! continues to search for a permanent host following Alex Trebek’s death in November 2020. The program initially announced on Aug. 10 that Bialik and longtime executive producer Mike Richards would split the hosting duties, but the latter stepped down days later after controversial comments he made in the past resurfaced. Though he was originally slated to remain as an executive producer, Richards then left that role on Aug. 31 amid the fallout.
