Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings & Mayim Bialik will ‘SPLIT’ hosting duties after fans begged for ex champ to get full-time gig
JEOPARDY! will apparently continue to be a two-person show - and fans are not happy.
According to reports, both controversial host Mayim Bialik and fan favorite Ken Jennings are negotiating new long-term deals that will see them continue to split time on the popular syndicated game show.
The news is sure to come as a disappointment for some die-hard fans, who have been very vocale about their displeasure with the Call Me Kat star.
They have been calling for Jeopardy! champ Ken to take over all of the hosting duties.
But according to Variety sources, Sony is eager to boost more versions of the program, and more than one host was needed.
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Online in fan chat rooms, the news was not well received.
"You obviously don't care about your fans," one person wrote on the fan page. "Most fans don't want Mayim back at all next season. I'll be considering cutting back my viewership when she's on."
"Makes no sense," a second added, while a third followed: "NO NO NO! Make a decision!"
Another agreed: "Just make a freaking decision.. either way you’re going to lose viewers."
KEN'S RETURN
Just last week, Ken, 48, returned to Jeopardy! for the first time since May.
He earlier shocked his supporters when he announced that he'd be out for "months" - so fans of his are thrilled he's closing out the season.
"So glad to see Ken back. Much smoother game no pauses between the answer and the acknowledgment of right or wrong," one Ken fan tweeted after his return.
"Life is so much sweeter when Ken Jennings is host of Jeopardy," another person tweeted.
"He is light years better than Mayim. It's not even close. He does introductions better. Interviews. Improvisations. He definitely responds faster when someone answers something correctly."
Another wrote: "I think Mayim would be fine with some work, but man, Ken was born for this!"
REPLACING ALEX
Ken and Mayim, 46, began filling in for the legendary Alex Trebek after his tragic 2020 passing and a fleet of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts, including now-disgraced Mike Richards.
The show's ratings nearly doubled to 9.7 million 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 sadly, she hadn't bested Ken's ratings since.
From those telltale ratings to "cryptic hints," fans collected clues that the former champion would be chosen over the actress.
For one, he sent his fans into meltdown when he bowed out of the new season of The Chase.
Another was that Ken accepted a 2022 Daytime Emmy award in June alone without Mayim, who also wasn't in its montage - and she has had her Fox sitcom renewed rendering her busier than him.
MAYIM'S MISTAKES
Fans have not been pleased with Mayim's stage presence, slamming her for errors and mishaps quite regularly during her past eight weeks.
They have nit-picked her “slow” reaction time to players' responses, frequent judge interventions for re-scores, and stiff interactions with players during the Q&A storytelling portions.
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Mayim then faced fan fury when a player's signature was ruled too sloppy in FJ though she had seemingly written "Harriet Tubman."
And last month - though not Mayim's fault - there was ironically a typo in Final Jeopardy just days after the spelling snub which couldn't have come at a worse time.