Jeopardy fans had some strong reactions after Ken Jennings filled in for his co-host Mayim Bialik on the syndicated game show as she stepped away to support the writers strike.
Some fans were thrilled to have Jennings back, while others actually missed Bialik — either way, Jeopardy fans were picking sides like they’re Team Jacob or Edward in Twilight.
Jennings hosted the first part of Season 39, which took place from August to December, while Bialik was expected to host the second half through the end of July.
Now, Jennings will be hosting the remainder of Season 39 as Bialik stands with the WGA, which is now in its second month of striking.
The game show employs Writer’s Guild of America writers to write the clues for the show, but the scripts were already written before the strike, Deadline reports. Jeopardy became the first game show to be impacted by the writers strike when Bialik stepped away.
After Jennings’ first show back on Monday (July 3), fans predictably had some strong and swift reactions.
“Some weird controversy at @Jeopardy over the hosts. I’m Team @missmayim. I mean is fine, okay but Mayim Bialik is THE Jeopardy host, IMHO. She’s a pro standing with the writers,” one viewer tweeted.
Others made their feelings about Bialik’s style of hosting loud and clear.
“Ken Jennings is soooo much better than Mayim Bialik as Jeopardy host. Please don’t let her back on the air,” a fan tweeted.
Of course, the Twitter chorus is nothing new. Jennings and (more so) Bialik have received so much backlash from Jeopardy viewers that a producer on the show recently came forward to defend them.
“This show is so hard to host,” producer Michael Davies said in a May interview with Vulture. “Alex [Trebek] made it his own, but it wasn’t his own the first couple of years. A lot of what happened on Jeopardy! came from him possessing this job for so long.”
He continued, “I do read everything, and look, the strongest thing we’ve got is the passion of our fans. I wish many of our fans were more patient in understanding that we’re dealing with two hosts.”
Davies also pointed out that the show’s ratings remain even for both of the hosts.
“When Ken is hosting and Mayim is hosting, there’s zero difference,” he said. “It’s exactly the same and that’s the broadest part of the audience. I back both of them. I go to the studio every day and try to make both of them better at hosting the show and make a better program environment around them. They have my full support.”
Jeopardy! airs on weeknights at 7/6c on ABC.