The ratings are in serious Jeopardy as fans threaten to boycott the show after it was announced Ken Jennings was splitting hosting duties with Mayim Bialik.
Some long-time fans of the hit TV show have gone as far as to say they will refuse to watch until Mayim Bialik is fired.
The news comes just days after Jeopardy! returned for its thirty-eighth season with now-removed host Mike Richards.
Richards was originally set to replace longtime host Alex Trebek in a permanent position.
But following resurfaced incidents that included offensive and s*xist comments Richards made on his former podcast as well as 2 different discrimination lawsuits tied to his time working on The Price Is Right…
Richards announced he was stepping down from the show.
And it appears fans aren’t happy with the new hosts.
Scroll on to find out more…
Now, despite the recent news, the quiz show has become the most-watched non-sports show on TV.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Nielsen data reports that for the week of December 27, 2021, Jeopardy! was the highest-rated non-sport program on broadcast and cable TV.
The quiz show’s ratings of almost 9.7 million viewers per episode soared above Yellowstone reaching 9.34 million, the outlet reports.
Jeopardy! also beat the rating of every network’s New Year’s Eve special.
Not only that, but The Wrap reports that during that same week, Jeopardy! surpassed 60 Minutes placing it as the most-watched non-sports program on TV.
It is the first time in 3 decades that Jeopardy! has surpassed 60 Minutes.
The viewings increase is thought to partly be due to the Jeopardy! champion, Amy Schneider.
Who people have loved to watch.
As some may already know, Schneider became a millionaire after her winnings surpassed $1 million on an episode of the show.
She became the 4th player on the show, as well as the first female champion, to win over $1 million during regular-season play.
According to Nielsen data reported by The Blast, since Schneider started her run on the show, viewership went up by around 3% per show.
Last year, Schneider won her 33rd game placing her in the third position on the all-time consecutive wins list.
Winning streaks like Schneider’s often cause an increase in viewership, EW reports.
Back in 2019, James Holzhauer had a record-breaking run that is said to have increased ratings to a fourteen-year high.
But, despite the recent high ratings, the quiz shows viewership is reportedly down from last season.
And it seems to have something to do with Mayim Bialik becoming co-host with Ken Jennings.
Last Wednesday, the show announced that Mayim and Ken would stay on as hosts.
Jeopardy! producer Michael Davies also said that they “will not flip flop the hosts constantly,” as they are aware fans “value consistency.”
However, many fans of the show took to Twitter to unload their frustration at the announcement…
“Will not be watching @Jeopardy until @KenJennings becomes the primary and only host. This switching stuff sucks! #boycottjeopardy because they have idiots running it. What a mess,” one commenter wrote.
“Great! I’ll watch through December when Ken hosts. I will not watch any Jeopardy Mayim hosts,” another commented.
“And I am permanently not watching,” a third shared.
“No one is thrilled to see Mayim co-hosting at all, if you’d listen to the people most of us preferred Ken as the full-time host over Mayim Bialik. Watch when viewership goes down when Mayim hosts & then goes up with Ken you guys will regret to co-host crap,” a fourth wrote.
“That woman drives me away from the show-and most others I know agree that she’s a mess as host,” another declared.
However, not everyone agrees that Mayim is the problem.
“Mayim is way better as a host,” one user tweeted.
“Ken is not a public speaker let alone a TV host. Trivia nerds and Twitter nerds r the only Jeopardy viewers that prefer Ken, which is a small segment of Jeopardy’s viewership.”
“If Ken was as good as social media says he is, he would have been Sony’s pick by himself,” another stated.
“Mayim needs practice. I agree. But she has a far superior Jeopardy voice for reading clues like Alex did. That’s why they picked Mayim.”
Others think the pair complement each other perfectly…
“This is a winning hosting team that Alex [Trebek] would be so proud of. Jeopardy is more popular than ever and will have the brightest future including prime time,” another said.
“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,” Davies confirmed Wednesday, July 27.
“The fact is, we have so much ‘Jeopardy!’ to make, and so many plans for the future, that we always knew we would need multiple hosts for the franchise and we are just so grateful that Mayim and Ken stepped in and stepped up to put the show in a position to succeed,” he continued. “And succeeded it has.”
He added: “Mayim and Ken are both extraordinarily talented and simply lovely humans. They support the staff and each other. They love and respect this institution of a television program. In return, the staff and I are honored to work alongside them.
“To conclude, I want to congratulate both Mayim and Ken,” he added. “They have both been a joy to work with. They have my commitment, my producer oath, that I will focus on nothing but improving the show around them so that they can do their best work and approach every day in the studio with excitement and energy.”
Season thirty-nine officially starts filming next week.
What do you think of the news?