When longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, 80, passed away after a long battle with cancer on November 8, 2020, fans of the game show were devastated. The biggest question for viewers and contestants, of course, was who would fill Trebek’s shoes as the new host.
Following months of guest hosts including Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton, Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik, and former champions like Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen, Bialik landed the job following controversy involving former Jeopardy! producer Mike Richardson.
Bialik’s tenure on the long-running game show has already given rise to some popular champions, including Amy Schneider, who won 40 games, and recent champion, Mattea Roach, who broke the win streak record for a Canadian contestant.
The current host’s future on Jeopardy is unknown at this time, however, as Ken Jennings’s recent exit from The Chase has many viewers convinced that he will be taking over full-time hosting duties next season.
Now, the former Champion has taken to social media again, this time to confirm big news about Season 39 of the hit series — live audiences will return for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic changed production protocols in 2020.
Jennings shared Jeopardy‘s official Tweet welcoming viewers back to the Alex Trebek Stage, adding his own comments, as well:
This is very exciting.
Nobody would be more pleased about this than Alex himself. He was a natural showman (as anyone who ever saw a Jeopardy! taping can attest) and was never quite as happy doing the audience-less shows of the pandemic era. We’re back, Alex!
While the permanent host for Season 39 has yet to be confirmed, there are, perhaps, opportunities to go around as the game show franchise expands with its first ever spinoff, Celebrity Jeopardy! debuting this fall.
“The stars of our show and Mayim and Ken have done incredible job hosting,” Jeopardy executive producer Michael Davies told Variety. He went on:
“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.”
Davies has also previously shared details about a new tournament that could “break the Jeopardy-verse.” Davies previously shared that he “started thinking about a Second Chance Tournament almost the day I started on Jeopardy!, when Jessica Stephens beat Matt Amodio, but lost to Jonathan Fisher by just $401.”
He took to the show’s official blogto confirm that this new tournament will be happening.
Who do you want to be the permanent Jeopardy host?
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Credit: ABC
