“As the holiday break begins in Hollywood, I have some Jeopardy! news,” Bialik, 48, wrotevia Instagram on Friday, December 15. “Sony has informed me that I will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!”
Bialik added that she is “deeply grateful” to have been part of the Jeopardy! family, as well as “incredibly honored” to have been nominated for a 2023 Primetime Emmy Award for the show earlier this year.
“For all of you who have supported me through this incredible journey and to the fans, contestants, writers, staff and crew of America’s Favorite Quiz Show, thank you,” she concluded her post.
Sony confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly on Friday but shared that Bialik could return for primetime specials.
“We made the decision to have one host for the syndicated show next season to maintain continuity for our viewers, and Ken Jennings will be the sole host for syndicated Jeopardy!,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “We are truly grateful for all of Mayim’s contributions to Jeopardy!, and we hope to continue to work with her on primetime specials.”
Bialik was made a temporary host of the longstanding NBC series in September 2021 alongside Jennings, 49, after former emcee Alex Trebek’s death. (Trebek, who began hosting the show in 1984, died in November 2020 at age 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.)
Bialik and Jennings split time with their hosting duties throughout the next year, before making the gig permanent in summer 2022.
The game show spent close to two years searching for the perfect host before landing on Bialik and Jennings, with celebrities including LeVar Burton, Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper spending time as guest stars. While former Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards was initially lined up as the new permanent host, he eventually stepped down in August 2021 after controversial comments he made resurfaced.
Bialik, meanwhile, faced her own fair share of backlash after taking up the mantle of Jeopardy! host, being labeled as an “anti-vaxxer” and “anti-feminist” for our outspoken views, labels the actress called “hurtful because they’re untrue,” in a September 2021 interview with Glamour.
Jeopardy! viewers also took issue with Bialik’s hosting tactics in March 2022, when she began referring to the opening round of the show as “Single Jeopardy,” something Trebek himself used on occasion.
“I did it once. If it wasn’t right, they would’ve had me redo it,” she told Yahoo Entertainment at the time. “I barely act alone. I promise. There’s so many things that we retape. We go back, I flub things. You’re seeing an edited version. So, it’s funny. When I saw that, I was like, ‘But if it was literally not kosher, there’s a million producers and writers and researchers.’ They’re all listening to me.”
Bialik added that she understands “people care a lot” about the long-running series, noting that she was “sorry” for the misstep.
“I’m doing my best!” she explained. “I will never do it again! Even if it’s in this script, I will not say it.”
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Despite the struggles, Bialik gushed over the positives of being part of such an iconic program.
“I love meeting all the contestants. I really do. I love to hear their stories,” she told Yahoo. “Some of them are academics and some of them are housewives and some of them are teachers. It’s all different kinds of people who can hold information in a way that most of us cannot.”
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