The answer is Ken Jennings. The correct question is: Who will be the only host of “Jeopardy!” in the coming season after actor Mayim Bialik announced on Friday that she has departed the show?
“Sony has informed me that I will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!” Bialik said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the Jeopardy! family.”
The show said in an Instagram post that it “made the decision to have one host for the syndicated show next season to maintain continuity for our viewers.” The statement also thanked Bialik and left the door open for her to host prime-time specials.
After host Alex Trebek’s death in November 2020, “Jeopardy!” ran through a rotating cast of celebrity replacements before landing on executive producer Mike Richards. But that hiring became mired in controversy after Richards’ history of sexist, racist and antisemitic comments resurfaced. He quickly resigned, and “Jeopardy!” settled on Bialik and Jennings as permanent joint hosts in July 2022.
Bialik had stepped back from hosting duties earlier this year due to the writers strike, Deadline reported. (Bialik initially found fame as the eponymous character on NBC’s “Blossom” and later on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.”) But as The New York Times noted in 2021 prior to her permanent hiring, Bialik’s past statements about vaccines and birth control were a marked departure from Trebek, who was known for the unyielding impartiality of his public persona. A self-identified Zionist, Bialik has also weighed in on the Israel-Hamas war. In October, she filmed an Instagram reel in which she and Israeli actor Noa Tishby discuss Hamas — including Tishby saying that it is “coming for Israel first, and America and the rest of the Western world next” — in the format of a “Jeopardy!” episode.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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