After the death of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek last year, the long-running game show kept going with a series of guest-hosts stepping into the role. Those who had a shot at hosting the series included Ken Jennings, Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Mayim Bialik, LeVar Burton, and more, but according to Variety, Jeopardy! may soon have a permanent host.
Variety has reported that Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards is in advanced negotiations to become the new permanent host of the series. Richards joined Jeopardy! as an executive producer just last year, but quickly bonded with Alex Trebek. "He was everything you could hope for and more," Richards said after Trebek's passing. "He was an idol of mine, and I will work every day to try to live up to the example he set." Richards guest-hosted Jeopardy! earlier this year and was said to have "impressed Sony Pictures brass with his command of the fast-paced game and easy on-air manner." Nothing has been decided yet and Variety's sources have said that other candidates are still in the mix, but you may just be looking at the new face of Jeopardy!. Mike Richards is no strange to hosting, as he's previously hosted Beauty and the Geek, The Pyramid, and Divided, and was a potential candidate to replace Bob Barker on The Price is Right before Drew Carey was chosen. In addition to Jeopardy!, Richards has also produced game shows such as Weakest Link, The Price is Right, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and Wheel of Fortune.
As I said, nothing has been decided yet, but how would you feel about Mike Richards becoming the new host of Jeopardy? If not, which one of the guest-hosts we've seen so far would you prefer?