JEOPARDY! fans have called out Mayim Bialik for being “all over the place” on Monday.
Others expressed fury that she is STILL hosting over Ken Jennings after a shocking number of weeks.
When Mayim, 46, walked onto the famed blue-purple Jeopardy! stage on July 4th, there weren’t exactly fireworks online.
Between them, fans largely prefer Ken, 47, after a season of split hosting.
He famously won the most games ever in 2004 – 74 straight – and to many seems like the natural successor to Alex Trebek having bonded with the late legend.
The permanent hosting decision is still on the board and is said to be sealed by the end of Season 38 this month – but tonight, many could not believe when she walked out, let alone what ensued.
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Dozens slammed tonight’s flow or lack thereof, especially for the stagnation in her ruling on responses.
“Response time was all over the place today. Two seconds maybe seven, who knows,” ripped one critic on YouTube.
Meanwhile, Ken’s last game was early May, after which he tweeted he’d be taking a break for “months.”
He wasn’t exaggerating; tonight’s game marked the actress’ eighth week hosting.
“WHY IS MAYIM STILL HOSTING!?! PLEASE BRING BACK KEN JENNINGS!!” another fan fumed over on YouTube.
“I’m tired of Mayim I can’t wait for when Ken Jennings is back,” wrote a third.
A fourth harshly claimed, “Previously, it was posted that Ken would return today.
It’s disappointing that Mayim is still hosting. Fingers crossed that these are her last two weeks hosting—EVER.”
Many noticed there was earlier a blank slate for TV listings for this week’s host.
But now, Ken is rumored to return later, hosting the last two weeks of Season 38 and returning July 18th.
Luckily, a silver lining for Ken fans was new champ Yungsheng Wang – a Los Angeles, California Public Defender clad in a silvery-grey suit and tie.
He went into Final Jeopardy with $11.8K and wagered a bold $11K, nearly everything.
He didn’t have to do so, as he was just $400 behind right podium’s Andie yet quite ahead of returning champ Eleanor.
However he was the only one to respond correctly resulting in a $22K finish, and he just couldn’t button up his excitement.
“No way!” Yungsheng exclaimed as he held onto his center podium and seemed floored by the finish, adding “Oh my god.”
Yungsheng will be back tomorrow night to go for win number two.
Ken and Mayim began filling in for the legendary Alex Trebek after his tragic 2020 passing and a fleet of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts, including now-disgraced Mike Richards.
The show’s ratings nearly doubled to 9.7M viewers when Ken made his first appearance.
When Mayim took over her hosting duties the headcount dropped to 5.9 million viewers during a college championship and indeed, she hasn’t bested Ken’s ratings since during Season 38.
While fans have found Mayim to be a perfectly plucky presence, hundreds have tweeted about her off-putting poise during the typically enjoyable Q&A shares, “slow” response time to contestants, and controversially erroneous games compared to Ken.
Mayim faced fan fury when a player’s signature was ruled too sloppy in FJ though she had seemingly written “Harriet Tubman.”
And last month – though not the actress-turned host’s fault – there was ironically a typo in Final Jeopardy just days after the spelling snub which couldn’t have come at a worse time.
She also recently made an off-color joke about marijuana and seemed to recently misunderstand the legacy of the band Queen.
Others have knocked Mayim’s difficulty multitasking on stage – admittedly no easy feat.
“Her cadence is so off. It’s unsettling to watch. It’s like watching a band live when the drummer can’t keep a straight beat. I just can’t with that so I had to quit watching after years,” one earlier tweeted.
The fan-preferred former player surprisingly tweeted in May, “I’m handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months,” adding, “We are lucky to have her! I’ll be back before the end of the season.”
Since then, he’s been ‘lei-ing’ low in Hawaii and at home in Seattle, Washington – though he’s said he’s already been tapped to tape more episodes for Season 39.
One possibility that has been implied by execs is that the actress could simply host spinoffs soon, perhaps with Buzzy Cohen.
One clue was that Ken accepted a 2022 Daytime Emmy award in June alone without Mayim, who also wasn’t in its montage – and she has her sitcom renewed.
If so, and as many are hoping, Ken would host the main show, with “multiple hosts for the franchise” altogether.
Even May 2022 streak-holder Mattea Roach – whose run ended one day before Ken announced his host hiatus – stated that she wanted him to take over.
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“As a contestant, there is something really special about being on stage with the greatest player of all time,” she told Vulture.
Jeopardy! airs on weeknights at 7 pm ET.
