JEOPARDY! fans have taken note of several clues that Mayim Bialik was going to be fired as the game show’s host before it was made official on Friday.
The Big Bang Theory actress started co-hosting the game show with former champion Ken Jennings in 2022.
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Mayim, 48, announced she was fired from hosting Jeopardy! on Friday.
She shared a text-based post on her Instagram feed that read: “As the Holiday break begins in Hollywood, I have some Jeopardy! news.
“Sony has informed me that I will no longer be hosting the syndicated version of Jeopardy!.”
She continued: “I am incredibly honored to have been nominated for a primetime Emmy for hosting this year and am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the Jeopardy! family.
“For all of you who have supported me through this journey and to the fans, contestants, writers, staff of America’s favorite quiz show, thank you.”
Mayim turned off comments on the post.
Jeopardy! executives confirmed their decision on their official Instagram page an hour after her post.
It read: “Mayim Bialik has announced she will no longer be hosting the syndicated [or nightly] version of Jeopardy!.
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“We have made the decision to have one host for the syndicated show next season to maintain continuity for our viewers.
“And Ken Jennings will be the sole host for syndicated Jeopardy!.”
“We are truly grateful for all of Mayim’s contributions to Jeopardy!, and we hope to work with her in the future on primetime specials.”
Jeopardy’s original host, Alex Trabek, died in November 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
In 2021, Mayim and Ken were tapped to host the game show through the year to come.
They were made the permanent hosts of the show the following summer after disgraced executive producer Mike Richards was named and then ousted as host.
Ahead of the announcement that Mayim would be leaving the show, several fans had picked up on clues that she was out.
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CELEBRITY STEPDOWN
In August, Ken stepped in to replace Mayim as the host of Celebrity Jeopardy! in an official poster.
Fans were thrilled about the casting shakeup.
It was not immediately clear if or when Mayim would return to the show.
The poster showed Ken walking toward the camera while wearing a stylish suit and a big smile.
He was surrounded by two large Celebrity Jeopardy! sign and the stage was designed to look like a street, creating a pseudo-runway of sorts for him to strut down.
Ken appeared well-kempt, with his hair cut shorter than usual and slicked back.
Jeopardy! captioned the poster: “The stars shine the brightest in PRIMETIME! Get ready for the return of #CelebrityJeopardy!”
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‘IT’S UNLIKELY’
Back in August, an insider reported that it was “unlikely” that she would return to the show for the remainder of the year.
The Messenger was the first to break the news.
A source told the outlet that the actress was standing with Hollywood’s strikes and, as such, would not be involved in the season, which began airing on September 11.
The insider revealed: “Mayim is choosing to stand with the actors like she did the writers and won’t cross the picket lines.”
“She hopes to return to Jeopardy! as soon as the strike has been resolved.”
“She wasn’t fired,” they continued.
“She’s choosing to stand with her union, and because of that, she was told it is unlikely she will return for the rest of the year, even if the strike is resolved before then.”
Mayim is a member of the SAG-AFTRA – the union that was on strike.
She left Jeopardy! in the final week of filming Season 39 in solidarity with the writers.
KEN BECOMES ONLY HOST
In September, Ken became the sole host of Season 40 of Jeopardy!, and would host through the Hollywood strikes per Deadline.
Sony Pictures Television made the takeover official amid confusion from fans about who would be returning amid the Hollywood strikes.
Fans were thrilled for Ken, as many have expressed unhappiness with Mayim as the host.
“Great to see Ken, love him hosting,” wrote one fan on the official Jeopardy! Instagram page, another agreed: “Glad to hear Ken is hosting.”
A third wrote: “His timing and thinking on this feet have been impeccable, as is his ability to banter with contestants.”
MAYIM SPEAKS
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Mayim addressed the decision to exit amid the strikes a short time afterward.
Speaking with Vanity Fair in her first and only words on the subject she said: “There’s a lot of complexity to this, but my general statement is always that I come from a union family.
“My grandparents were immigrants who worked in sweatshops, and my parents were public school teachers.
“While it’s not for me to personally judge anyone else’s decision, for me, I am a union supporter—pretty much all unions and what they fight for.
“I believe in that system even if it’s not perfect. I believe in getting educated about why people strike and what they’re striking for.”
The magazine touted Mayim as “among the first celebrities to take an overt stand by declining to host Jeopardy’s new season until the writers got a fair deal.”
RAISE THE RATINGS
Following Mayim’s removal from Celebrity Jeopardy!, ratings spiked.
In November, ABC set a new season ratings record.
An episode of the show featuring Macaulay Culkin, SNL star Rachel Dratch, and WWE pro Becky Lynch drew in 4.66 million viewers, according to The Wrap.
Viewership began to rise steadily around that time, hitting 4.83 million total viewers in a single episode – the highest multi-platform episode of the season.
Ken received credit for helping to boost the ratings.
Mayim hosted Celebrity Jeopardy! for all of Season one but was replaced in the one that followed.
She averaged about 3.9 million viewers per episode, according to Neilson data.
Only five episodes hosted by Mayim broke the 4 million viewership mark.
SOCIAL MEDIA SNUB
In July, fans noticed that Jeopardy! stopped posting Mayim on social media as much.
After she and Ken received nominations from the TV academy for their work on the show, they were praised in a post on Jeopardy’s Instagram feed.
Mayim has since only appeared in posts marking Halloween and her birthday.
Likewise, Mayim did not often speak about Jeopardy!.
Throughout her hiatus from the show, she posted about her podcast and other causes and took a step back from online activity altogether.
Jeopardy! rarely came up on her social media, however.
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