Mayim Bialik to guest host Jeopardy after Mike Richards' exit scandal

Culver City, California - The Jeopardy shuffle continues: Mayim Bialik will now serve as guest host of the TV trivia game show when production resumes this week.

Mayim Bialik has yet to comment on her new appointment as guest host.
Mayim Bialik has yet to comment on her new appointment as guest host.  © Collage: IMAGO / Everett Collection & Starface

Sony Pictures Television announced Monday that the Big Bang Theory actor will temporarily fill in as host of the hit quiz show for three weeks after executive producer Mike Richards recently stepped down as its newly appointed lead.

Bialik was previously named the new host of Jeopardy prime-time specials and spinoffs, while Richards was supposed to helm nightly episodes.

Upcoming installments will see Bialik take the famed studio lectern – with subsequent guest hosts to be announced – as the search for a permanent successor for the late Alex Trebek drags on.

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Bialik’s guest-host appointment comes days after Richards exited his brand-new post following a cascade of scandals. Shortly before his departure, Richards apologized for making several sexist remarks on The Randumb Show, a podcast he co-hosted from 2013 to 2014.

"It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago," Richards said in a statement to The Ringer, which reviewed all 41 episodes of the podcast before they were scrubbed from the internet.

"Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast, and I am deeply sorry."

By the time he addressed the podcast controversy, Richards was already on thin ice with viewers. In the days leading up to his casting, lawsuits alleging wrongful termination and gender-based harassment filed by former female employees on The Price Is Right – where he was an executive producer from 2008 to 2018 – came back to haunt him.

Despite Sony’s controversial decision to hire him anyway, Richards ultimately quit the hosting gig after his podcast commentary resurfaced.

As of Monday, Richards was still an executive producer on Jeopardy.

Prior to his withdrawal, Richards filmed five installments as host of Jeopardy, all of which are scheduled to air as planned beginning September 13.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Everett Collection & Starface

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