6 Times Jeopardy Fans Were Furious With Mayim Bialik

For this scenario, the rage of Jeopardy fans just sort of caught Mayim Bialik in the crossfire, and it really isn’t her fault that a Daily Double Question was re-used from an episode the previous week. During the trivia show’s High School Reunion Tournament, contestant Justin Bolsen bet big on a Daily Double question, which paid off in spades. The question had to do with Halley’s Comet, but fans were quick to point out that the question was actually used the week before, and they were shocked the show’s production team would mess up in such an obvious manner.

Earlier this year, Jeopardy! producer Sarah Foss appeared on a podcast to announce that Ken Jennings would host the show until the end of April and that Mayim Bialik would take over May 1 to host the remainder of the season. Fans were instantly riled up and took to Twitter to fire off their reactions and dissatisfaction with the decision. While many fans have been relatively okay with Ken Jennings’ hosting performance, Bialik has been getting the brunt of their anger due to her hosting style, which fans say is choppier compared to Ken’s.

When Jeopardy! announced that Mayim Bialik would be taking on a three-week hosting gig for the High School Reunion Tournament, meaning no Ken Jennings during that time, fans were once again outraged and threatened to tune out until Jennings returned. Fans were further incensed when Bialik confirmed a wrong answer to a Final Jeopardy clue when a contestant answered, “What is God Save the Queen?” to a clue asking what the UK national anthem was. While this answer was right prior to Queen Elizabeth II’s death, the correct answer was “God Save the King,” since the king was the current monarch on the throne.

After Jake DeArudda unseated reigning champ Troy Meyer from the Jeopardy! throne, the newly anointed champion was quick to write some blog posts that didn’t have many kind words for Bialik’s hosting skills. DeArruda said that Bialik “mispronounces words, blows through punctuation, and is genuinely inconsistent in her pacing”  and praised Jennings as host in comparison. While DeArruda was quick to point out that both hosts had pleasant personalities and the hosting situation didn’t affect his victory, he did feel like Bialik’s lack of experience led to a less smooth and consistent performance when compared to Jennings.

Similar to the earlier Jeopardy! Daily Double faux pax, Mayim Bialik can’t necessarily be held responsible for the clues and questions that the production team puts together behind the scenes. Still, it left a pretty bad taste in fans’ mouths when Bialik read out a clue that seemingly made light of the infamous murder case of Gabby Petito, with the clue under the A-list category reading, “In 2021, fugitive Brian Laundries ended his days in Fla’s Myakkahatchee Creek area, home to these long and toothy critters”. The answer was, of course, alligator, but the production team could have easily come up with a million different clues that didn’t bring up a very recent and brutal murder case.

Following months of flip-flopping and indecision, Jeopardy! finally officially named Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings as the permanent co-hosts to take over for Trebek. As expected, fans were livid and were quick to take to social media to threaten a boycott over the decision, with many saying they wouldn’t watch at all or they would only watch when Jennings was on. It’s unclear how many fans actually stuck to these threats, but it remains clear that Bialik is still not a fan favorite, and it won’t be surprising when the fans find another reason to get mad in the future.