Recent reports claim that Jeopardy! may have found its new permanent host in executive producer Mike Richards, but there a number of reasons why Richards would be a poor choice to replace Alex Trebek. Ever since Trebek passed away in November 2020 following an extended battle with pancreatic cancer, the trivia show has been in search of a new host to fill his sizable shoes. In the interim, a series of guest hosts have stepped up to the podium, including Richards himself.
The news that Richards has become the frontrunner for the Jeopardy! hosting position has been met with controversy and, in some cases, explicit frustration from fans, largely due to allegations of discrimination and workplace harassment made against Richards earlier in his career. While an executive producer on The Price is Right, Richards was implicated in two discrimination lawsuits leveraged against the show by former models, both of which ultimately ended up being settled out of court. Those suits included allegations that Richards repeatedly made demeaning comments to models for becoming pregnant, and that he suggested doing so would be cause for the women to be fired.
Richards has since denied any discriminatory behavior, mirroring the language of many other media executives who have faced similar and convincing allegations of harassment over the past few years since the start of the “Me Too” movement. However, even without considering his shaky legal past, Richards is far from the ideal choice to replace Trebek. For months, Star Trek: The Next Generation alum LaVar Burton has been the clear frontrunner with fans online, who have started a whole digital campaign to make him the new host. And beyond Burton, a number of other prominent celebrities have been discussed among the fanbase as possible hosts.
Excluding the past discrimination cases implicating Richards, he might seem like a harmless pick to replace Trebek. But as one of, if not the, most popular and well-respected game shows on television, Jeopardy! deserves a lot more than that. Trivia isn’t inherently flashy or entertaining as a spectator sport, but Trebek helped build a show that appealed to a massive audience, largely on the merits of his passion for learning and his kind persona. No one will be able to fill his shoes, and if Jeopardy! is to retain anywhere near the same level of appeal it had with him behind the podium, it will need to shift a bit, while still holding onto its core. That would work best with a host who brings their own distinct personality and passion to the show, rather than someone fans have to look up on Wikipedia.
And that’s without considering the allegations against Richards, which are substantial, especially when replacing a man like Trebek, who stood for compassion and understanding throughout his career. Richards bring no excitement, no pre-existing fanbase, and no unique angle to Jeopardy! as it currently stands, which is bad enough. It’s even worse that the thing he’s most famous for publicly is allegedly discriminating against women for being pregnant, and that, as the show’s executive producer, he was directly involved in the search for the new host. Richards claims that he’s never discriminated against anyone, and that it wasn’t up to him whether or not he got the job. But even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean anyone else at Jeopardy! should be giving him the job either.