Feature
HOST LIKELY
All the clues that Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings will be named permanent host over Mayim Bialik
JEOPARDY!'s Ken Jennings could be named permanent host over Mayim Bialik any day.
From telltale ratings to "cryptic hints,"; here are ALL of the clues fans have spotted.
8
8
Mayim, 46, has been hosting Jeopardy! with Ken all season - he announced in May that he'd be out for "months."
Though his host hiatus shocked Ken-supporters, the permanent hosting slot is undecided with Season 38 ending on July 31st 2022.
Fans are waiting with bated breath to find out who will host going forward, Ken confirmed he'll finish out its last two weeks and already taping more.
In fact, internet sleuths have spotted MANY clues that Ken is preparing to film all of Season 39 solo and be passed the treasured Alex Trebek torch.
Read more on Jeopardy!
CLUE 1: 'CHASE'-ING THE BIG GIG
Ken sent his fans into meltdown when he bowed out of the new season of The Chase.
The ABC sister show's official account tweeted a few months back: “New season. New Chasers.
"Victoria Groce, Brandon Blackwell, and Buzzy Cohen join Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer on May 3 when #TheChase returns."
Ken - who joined the show in 2021 - was notably missing from the line-up.
Most read in TV
His former costar and rival James Holtzhauer pointed out his absence, posting jokingly: "By popular demand, The Chase is now 100% @KenJennings-free."
Ken buzzed back: "I'm already missing all the lovely folks at @TheChaseABC, and the great trivia minds, and James."
“Please tell me this is because you are taking the full-time Jeopardy hosting job,” one tweeted, as hundreds of others thought he was freeing up his schedule.
CLUE 2: TAPERED & TAPING
During a May installment of his podcast, , Ken revealed he has was scheduled for tapings the following month.
Since Jeopardy! tapes its shows two months in advance, one could only assume he was filming upcoming Season 39.
On his slicked-back haircut he shared, "It's very short right now, but this is calculated, I need to be on TV in exactly three weeks."
"I've got to do Jeopardy! again, but they will trim it that day. So then I can get back down. There's a lot of math that goes into this."
SOLO EMMY MOMENT
Another 'Ken clue' arrived when Jeopardy! won at the Daytime Emmys in June.
Fans realized that only one of the hosts appeared in the clip that played as part of the win - Ken was that host.
He also accepted the award solo.
One pointed out on Twittter: “Notice that they show clips of Ken and not Mayim? FFS just make him the permanent host.”
A second Mayim critic wrote: “Hopefully this is a sign that's [Mayim’s] gone next season.”
8
CONTRACT'S UP!
At the beginning of June, Mark Gaberman, a writer on the ABC show, announced he will be returning to the show.
Mark : "I’m happy to report I just signed my contract for another year of Jeopardy. Beyond grateful."
Jeopardy! followers speculated that the contract of the permanent host might be nearing its "final stages" the same month Ken was returning to film more.
Piecing those two clues together it would seem Ken has already signed some sort of contract.
'VERY VERY SOON'
Executive producer Mike Davies told in June during the same Daytime Emmys: “We hope to have a hosting announcement very, very soon."
"But with all of our plans for Jeopardy!—which is more Jeopardy!, not less, more versions — we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience.
"To represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward."
Fans buzzed over this confirmation there would still be multiple hosts, but many noted the phrasing.
Since the producer mentioned they’d be needed for the “franchise” and not just regularly airing episodes, many felt Ken could score the main weekday gig after all.
“So hopefully Ken will be the regular host and Mayim will host special events like celebrity Jeopardy" one Redditor wrote.
Indeed, many also felt this was a clue that the actress could simply host spinoffs soon, perhaps with Buzzy Cohen.
MAYIM TO 'SPIN-OFF?'
Nearly simultaneously, an ABC executive also dropped a hint that Mayim would still take on the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy role only - not mentioning the regular and more important main show.
When asked if fans should not assume Mayim wasn't selected because her named wasn't announced yet, the exec simply replied on the upcoming fall special: “Correct."
Bespectlced fan-favorite Buzzy also suddenly entered the running for primetime specials with Mayim after his own crpytic tweets.
Buzzy revealed there is “another” host in the mix for Celebrity Jeopardy - implying he was that host via cryptic a Yoda GIF - along with Mayim.
All of this seemed to point that Ken would host the main show, with "multiple hosts for the franchise" altogether.
KAT'S OUT OF THE BAG
Mayim has another show while Ken doesn't – a Fox sitcom named Call Me Kat.
The network recently released its fall TV schedule, which revealed that the comedy series won’t be held for a midseason debut, as it had its first two seasons - but will be receiving , more than ever before.
“That's got to seal the deal for Ken hosting the syndicated episodes full time now,” one Redditor wrote when it was announced.
“There would have to be some serious scheduling rearrangements by both parties for Mayim to tackle both her sitcom and Jeopardy.”
8
KEN CLOSING IN
Ken is listed to return to Jeopardy! on Monday, July 18th, finishing out the season.
A fan shared a Twitter screenshot of their upcoming TV recordings, which showed the alum-turned-host's name for that date.
"Ken's coming back to host Jeopardy! for the final two weeks of season 38," they wrote alongside the image.
8
This as a game show predicted last week: "If I was a betting person, I would imagine that @Jeopardy will announce who'll be hosting next season somewhere around July 15.
"It'll either get publicized as 'Don't worry, Mayim will be back' or 'this is Mayim's last syndicated episode.'"
In the latter scenario, a Mayim send-off episode would align with Ken returning the following Monday.
BETTER RATINGS
Ken and Mayim began filling in for the legendary Alex after his tragic 2020 passing and a fleet of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts, including now-disgraced Mike Richards.
Mike was even selected as host but bowed out due to his troubled past coming back to haunt him.
The show's ratings nearly doubled to 9.7M viewers when Ken made his first appearance.
When Mayim took over her hosting duties the headcount dropped to 5.9 million viewers during a college championship and indeed, she hasn't bested Ken's ratings since during Season 38.
For the week ending June 26th, "Jeopardy! ratings dipped again, by 2%, to 4.9. They’d been at 5.0 the previous week, and 5.2 before that.
They’ve been down appreciably with Mayim Bialik as host," Showbiz 411 observed.
Family Feud has taken over as the syndication leader multiple times as Mayim has hosted the last two months - which did not happen under Ken.
Ken’s ratings are always consistently higher than hers, and that has to do with the contestants’ success, but the host propels the show
KEN-DORSEMENTS
It's been an overwhelmingly impressive season contestant-wise - record-holders including Canadian tutor Mattea Roach, beloved rideshare driver Ryan Long, Amy Schneider, and Matt Amodio will compete in the Tournament of Champions in November.
But even Amy and Mattea stated right after her run she wanted Ken to take over.
"As a contestant, there is something really special about being on stage with the greatest player of all time," she told , having gone on her streak which resulted in great ratings largely under him.
Perhaps the most important backing of all is the late Alex - who hosted since 1984.
Former champ Arthur Chu told in 2021 that Ken was the late host's choice.
"It really seems like he was Alex Trebek's choice for a successor, hence Trebek giving him his cufflinks and having him narrate his audiobook," Arthur said.
"I think there's some clear signs Alex Trebek's preferred successor was Ken Jennings and it would have been more respectful to abide by his wishes."
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Read More On The Sun
That said, Ken may be his own worst enemy - he was considered a "shoo-in" by SONY in 2021 per before his problematic "wheelchair" tweets resurfaced and the journey became a longer one.
But since then he has proven himself with higher ratings and with the fanbase largely siding with him - now it's just up to the higher-ups.
8
8
8
Topics