Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings says Mayim Bialik exit caught him ‘off guard’

Jennings says he was not expecting co-host to leave but is eager to equal Alex Trebek’s record of 38 years as sole host

Ken Jennings says he was as surprised as anyone to learn he would become the solo host of Jeopardy!, the long-running US gameshow.

In an interview published on Monday by the Hollywood Reporter, Jennings, the most famous contestant in the quizshow’s history, said he was not expecting co-host Mayim Bialik’s announcement that she was leaving.

“It took me off guard, because I loved working with my Mayim and I’m going to miss her,” Jennings remarked in the interview.

Jennings added that he could not “speak to her decision-making or her opinions about it”. But he said he was up for the task of serving as the show’s solo host, describing the role as one he would like to retain for the same 38 years that his predecessor Alex Trebek did.

“It’s such an honor, and hopefully I look forward to 37 more years of doing it, when I’ll be a very, very old man,” said Jennings, who – after an interim run – was given a share of the long-term hosting duties in July 2022 alongside Bialik.

Bialik, who appeared in the sitcoms Blossom and The Big Bang Theory, had earned an Emmy nomination in the summer for her work on the quizshow. But more recently she said Sony Pictures Television, which produces Jeopardy!, had told her she would no longer be hosting.

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the Jeopardy! family,” said Bialik, who had occasionally caused controversy with her comments on vaccines and politics.

Bialik did not elaborate on the reasons for her departure, though Sony distributed a statement thanking her for her contributions to the show and saying it would continue “to work with her on primetime specials”.

Sony said Jennings would remain as the “sole host” in hopes of maintaining “continuity for … viewers” of the quizshow, which began airing in 1964 and whose contestants must supply answers in the forms of questions.

Jennings gained international fame by setting a record with 74 consecutive Jeopardy! wins and more than $2.5m in prize money in 2004. He was a computer software engineer at the time.

After Trebek’s death in November 2020, Sony chose Mike Richards to be the long-term successor. But he resigned within two weeks because of sexist, antisemitic and racist comments he made while hosting a podcast from 2013 to 2014.

Jennings in Monday’s interview said he felt “extremely lucky to have even been considered for this job as a non-broadcaster”.

“It’s kind of a weird thing to try to bring back an ex-contestant to host, and I’ve obviously been learning as I go,” Jennings said.

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