The search for a new “Jeopardy!” host following Alex Trebek‘s death last November turned into a bit of a crisis after executive producer Mike Richards took the job for himself, only for past lawsuits and offensive podcast statements to resurface, resulting in him being fired as both host and producer. Richard taped multiple shows before his ouster, which aired the week of September 13, so we asked our readers who among the show’s many guest hosts should get the permanent gig instead. Scroll down to see the complete poll results.
The answers weren’t all that surprising. Ken Jennings came out on top with 25.95% of votes from our respondents. He was the first guest host to fill in after the show returned with new episodes following Trebek’s passing, and he has a long relationship with the series. He still holds the record for the most “Jeopardy!” wins during regular season play: 74 games in a row in 2004. And in 2020 he won the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” tournament against the other two most dominant players in the show’s history, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer. So it would certainly be fitting if he inherited the mantle from Trebek.
But LeVar Burton was very close behind in our poll with 23.62% of the vote. Support for his candidacy began with fans online who lobbied for the “Reading Rainbow” host to take over the show, leading to him hosting a week of episodes over the summer. He doesn’t have the prior connection to the show that Jennings has, but he’s loved in knowledge and science circles not just for his work promoting literacy on “Reading Rainbow,” but also as Kunta Kinte in “Roots” and engineer Geordi LaForge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Ranked third in our poll with 15.74% was actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, who actually did get the gig hosting “Jeopardy!” prime time specials and spin-offs. Then came another “Jeopardy!” champ, Buzzy Cohen (11.66%), and football player Aaron Rodgers (7.29%). But there might be more names added to the list of prospective hosts as the search resumes. For now, though, check out our complete results below.
1. Ken Jennings — 25.95%
2. LeVar Burton — 23.62%
3. Mayim Bialik — 15.74%
4. Buzzy Cohen — 11.66%
5. Aaron Rodgers — 7.29%
6. David Faber — 3.5%
6. NONE OF THESE — 3.50%
8. Anderson Cooper — 2.04%
8. Joe Buck — 2.04%
10. Savanah Guthrie — 1.46%
11. Kaite Couric — 1.17%
12. Sanjay Gupta — 0.87%
13. George Stephanopoulos — 0.58%
14. Mehmet Oz — 0.29%
14. Robin Roberts — 0.29%
16. Bill Whitaker — 0%
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