“Jeopardy!” has seen its fair share of guest hosts stepping in for the late and great Alex Trebek, but who will be his long-term replacement?
While no one could ever truly replace the man who hosted the popular game show for 37 years, the position itself does need to be filled eventually. For this past season, a slew of guest hosts has stepped up to the challenge. They range from ultimate “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings to NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
With CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta finishing his hosting duties tonight, there are only five more weeks and five more guest hosts to go. And according to this recent Newsweek article, that means that we could know who the permanent “Jeopardy!” host will be by the middle of August.
Several websites have held different polls to see who fans want to take up the hosting mantle. But according to Newsweek, Bookies.com “is the most recent odds-making website to report on the odds of who will become the permanent host.”
By Bookies’ calculation, Ken Jennings leads the poll with the top scores across four categories: Social engagement, viewer sentiment, TV ratings, and media coverage. Newsweek reported that Aaron Rodgers follows closely behind Jennings, with “Jeopardy!” producer Mike Richards just behind Rodgers.
But What About Upcoming ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Hosts?
Five guest hosts still have their shot at impressing audiences as the quiz show’s host. Next week, ABC’s “Good Morning America” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos takes the reins, followed by fellow co-anchor Robin Roberts on July 19 – July 23. LeVar Burton is up after that from July 26 – July 30, followed by David Faber and Joe Buck for the August shows.
Newsweek also cited this CivicScience study that asked viewers about their top choices for the list of upcoming hosts. Granted, the study was published in May, so the results for “upcoming” hosts include Mayim Bialik and Savannah Guthrie. But while those two clinched the second and fourth highest spots, respectively, LeVar Burton took the cake.
This comes as no surprise when it was fan support that got Burton in the running in the first place. A Change.org petition gathered over 250,000 signatures (as of today) to request that Burton be one of the guest hosts on “Jeopardy!”.
Interestingly enough, the same CivicScience survey also asked participants, “Which of the following potential ‘Jeopardy!’ hosts would you be the least inclined to watch regularly if they were given the permanent job?” The top three answers? Also the top three contenders for the position: Jennings, Rodgers, and Burton.
We’ll see how the standings change as more guest hosts give the hosting gig a shot.
