'Jeopardy!' Fans Have a Lot to Say About Mike Richards' Episodes Following His Firing

Jeopardy! is airing a handful of Mike Richards-hosted episodes this week, despite his previous exit and firing. Richards was an executive producer on Jeopardy! and in August was announced as the show's new permanent host. Less than two weeks later, he stepped down from the hosting position, after the resurfacing of some sexist and insensitive comments he made during a 2013 podcast. Then, on Aug. 31, he was officially let go from his producer roles on both Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

At the time Richards was fired, he had already filmed the first five episodes of Jeopardy! Season 38 which, The Wrap reports, are airing. While it's not necessarily explained, the reason for the episodes still airing is possibly due to gameplay rules. We can speculate that the show's current producers would deem retaping all the episodes as unfair to the players. While it may be the fair thing for those playing the game, seeing the disgraced Richards host knowing that his tenure was very short made viewers at home feel quite awkward.