What is up with all the Jeopardy drama? The game-show still hasn’t secured a host that’ll stick since Alex Trebek’s death. And yes, Trebek is hard to replace. He was loved by so many, but I want to know who chummed the waters? The sharks are out and looking for blood. Fans have done a lot of digging of old dirt on former contestant, Ken Jennings, and executive producer, Mike Richards. Well, now he’s Sony’s former executive producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Executive producer of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Michael Davies, will take his place. Three shows to produce? Davies will be very busy for a while.
Sony Pictures Television’s executive vice president, Suzanne Prete, announced Richards’ departure and shared:
We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.
Richards Is Out And The Fans Can Rejoice
Back on August 20, Variety published an article that Mike Richards had to step down as the host of Jeopardy after some ugly words he said surfaced and backlash from fans:
Richards’ hasty exit as host came a day after the Anti-Defamation League called for an investigation after a report surfaced in The Ringer that Richards made disparaging remarks about Jews, women and other groups in episodes of the comedy podcast “The Randumb Show” recorded in 2013 and 2014.
In the podcast, Richards had asked his female assistant and his female co-host whether they had ever taken nude photos, or in his words, “booby pictures.” In another episode, he called his co-host a “booth ho”.
When Richards was named as the permanent successor, vocal “Jeopardy!” fans complained loudly on social media that the fix was in from Richards. The nitty gritty details of the behind-the-scenes selection process was scrutinized on the level of a Supreme Court appointment. Internet-fueled speculation proliferated about Richards’ ability to sabotage other hosts by editing episodes to make them look bad. There was outrage that Richards as executive producer had the final say on the guest-hosted episodes sent for focus group testing. Richards added fuel to the fire with more than a few examples of sophomoric behavior that made him seen by the “Jeopardy!” faithful as unfit to follow Trebek behind the lectern.
jeopardy viewers finding out mike richards is the new host pic.twitter.com/hHJQQzMUBM
— entitled (@PythonBro) August 4, 2021
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Even former Jeopardy contestant, James Holzhauer, is celebrating.
Do I think Mike Richards’s podcast comments were appropriate for polite society? No. But did he deserve the benefit of the doubt for the job he did running Jeopardy? Also no
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) August 31, 2021
— James Holzhauer (@James_Holzhauer) August 31, 2021
Esquire reported with the attempt at getting Ken Jennings filling the role as host, fans dug up his old tweets. One tweet he shared in 2014 was “Nothing sadder than a hot person in a wheelchair.” Those were horrible words to share, but I don’t think it’s cancel-worthy. He apologized and I hope he’ll do better. Also, I doubt he’s the same person he was back then. People learn and grow. At least they should. I’m definitely a different person than I was years ago.
You can catch James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings as Chasers on the game-show, The Chase. Also, I really hope they find someone to host Jeopardy soon. I’m worried all this drama will doom the game-show.
What do you think of the Jeopardy drama? Are you also worried for the show? Let me know in the comments.
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