A JEOPARDY! player has caused an ‘at home disturbance’ as viewers experienced a WILD tech mishap during Tuesday night’s game.
Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik have “closed deals” to both host next season.
Ken Jennings, 48, hosted Jeopardy! on Tuesday and will close out the currently airing season of the classic game show this week.
Today, it was confirmed that both he and Mayim Bialik, 46, are inked to be permanent hosts starting in fall.
The alum also scored the treasured 2022 Tournament of Champions gig – which sees the show’s best players return – and is opening next season’s first four months.
Last night, however, the heated host battle was the least of some fans’ worries.
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2-day winner Ed Coulson – who won with $40K total – faced off against Mark Stover and Alexa Jacob.
Though Alexa – a Queens, New York electrical engineer in a floral top – didn’t emerge victorious, she did become a household name, quite literally.
The issue was that her first name is Alexa, like the Amazon device.
Hundreds of viewers buzzed to Twitter said that their Amazon Echo speakers were “freaking out” during the game, and responded to trivia questions.
“There’s a Jeopardy contestant tonight named Alexa and it keeps triggering our Alexa,” one Twitter user wrote as last night’s show aired.
“One of the contestants on Jeopardy! today is named Alexa and our ‘Alexa’ is going nuts,” wrote another.
“I’m trying to watch @Jeopardy tonight and everytime Ken says Alexa, my @amazon keeps going off!” exclaimed a third.
“Every time Kennings says ‘Alexa’, my echo is activated,” lamented a fourth.
A fifth pleaded, “Omg. Watching Jeopardy! and one of the contestant’s names is Alexa.
Every floor of my house is freaking out anytime @KenJennings calls her name!”
One even begged, “Hey @Jeopardy please no more contestants named Alexa. You keep setting off my smart speaker. #FirstWorldProblems”
And alas, even the tech company had to buzz in on the categorically hilarious issue, responding to one viewer:
“Hello! We’re sorry for this inconvenience! If needed, you could temporarily mute your Alexa device.”
The player herself then posted, “Thank you all for the well wishes tonight!”
Also, if you’re complaining that your Amazon device was set off tonight – I can’t do much about that!”
The night after Jeopardy! fans had to unplug their Echo devices to watch the show, big news arrived.
EP Mike Davies shared a lengthy statement to the show’s official website on July 27th.
The announcement began by declaring they both will indeed be permanent hosts.
“I write today with the exciting news that we have closed and signed deals with Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings to be the hosts of Jeopardy! moving forward.”
The showrunner then broke down next season’s schedule and Ken has emerged with quite a few new gigs.
“Ken will kick off the season in September, host the inaugural Second Chance competition and the heavily anticipated Tournament of Champions featuring Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach, Ryan Long, and many, many more.”
The show then implied the actress will be less involved than Ken.
“His initial hosting run will take us through December. In the meantime, Mayim will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on ABC in primetime.”
“When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship.“
Mike wrote, “And as many weeks as she can manage with her other primetime commitment to ‘Call Me Kat.'”
The EP concluded, “We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule.”
Fans were floored to get such categorically positive news about Ken, as both will host the syndicated show – but the alum its bigger specials.
“Well that’s half good news (the Ken part),” tweeted one fan.
“I’m glad you kept @kenjennings and made him official. Good choice,” wrote another.
A third wrote, “So glad for a decision and a detailed view of what to expect. I was firmly in the Ken camp (actually the Buzzy [Cohen] camp but) hopefully with more coaching Mayim will grow into the role.
“And now maybe we can all just go back to enjoying the game.”
She show also announced a weekly podcast amid the conclusive news about the pair sharing the role for good.
They 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 9.7 million viewers when Ken made his first appearance.
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When Mayim took over her hosting duties the headcount dropped to 5.9 million viewers during a college championship and sadly, she hadn’t bested Ken’s ratings since – but in general, viewership was quite high with 27M weekly watchers.
Jeopardy! airs weeknights at 7 pm ET – after this week wraps, the show will return in the fall with both hosts.
