The actor and neuroscientist opens up about the tumultuous last few weeks.
Mayim Bialik: ‘Yes, I Want to Host Jeopardy! Full-Time’
On Thursday, September 16—when Sony Pictures Television made the announcement that Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings would be filling in as hosts of Jeopardy! through 2021, after executive producer Mike Richards stepped down from the role—she wasn't sharing a celebratory post on Instagram. Instead the actor and neuroscientist was in the midst of observing Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religion. Also known as the Day of Atonement, it's a solemn holiday, one that involves no drinking, eating, or partaking in regular activities. It is a time to reflect, take stock, and, ultimately, look ahead.
The Big Bang Theory fan favorite has been doing a lot of that lately after being named the host of Jeopardy! National College Championship, a new event for the popular Emmy-winning quiz show. In the five weeks since she got the gig, a lot has changed.
Almost immediately after Richards was hired as the full-time host of Jeopardy!, there was intense backlash. Given the diverse pool of guest hosts that the show could choose from—and the fact that Richards was not a public figure—his hiring was met with groans from fans and industry critics alike who had hoped to welcome a person of color or a woman as host for the first time in the show's 38 seasons. By naming Bialik as the host of the new Jeopardy! specials in the same press release as Richards's hiring only seemed to look as though execs were trying to deflect criticism by saying, “But hey, we also created a new job and hired a woman!”
The outcry grew louder in the days that followed, with critics pointing out that Richards was accused of pregnancy discrimination in two complaints filed by former The Price Is Right models during his time as executive producer of the long-running game show. Aside from an apology in which Richards said, “The complaints do not reflect the reality of who I am,” he held on to his job…until The Ringer's Claire McNear published an in-depth report on August 18, uncovering disparaging remarks Richards made against minorities on his old podcast. Two days later he was out.
Richards had already taped a week's worth of episodes for the new season of Jeopardy!, which premiered on Monday, September 13, but Sony Pictures Television announced that Bialik would step in as interim host for the coming weeks, while Richards kept his job as executive producer. That lasted for a week, and then he was out in that role too.
Throughout it all Bialik has done her best to remain above the fray, declining to speak out against Richards and focusing on the task ahead. She's weathered her own controversies in the process, from critics saying she's anti-vaccination (she's not) and anti-feminist to those who don't like her for the job because she's not fan favorite LeVar Burton. Often missing from many of these conversations is the fact that Bialik is often ranked among the best guest hosts by various media outlets (industry trade publication Variety gave her the number one spot) and is a skilled performer with four Emmy nominations. She's also a neuroscientist who has spent a decade-plus of her life in academia. Jeopardy! couldn't ask for a more qualified host.
Bialik—who is also getting ready to begin production on the second season of the Fox sitcom Call Me Kat—has remained quiet about all the drama. Now, ahead of her first week hosting on the new season of Jeopardy!, she's ready to open up about the last few months.
Telling Glamour that her “sense of gratitude is very, very high right now for the opportunities I've been given,” she also admits “a tremendous sense of emotional and physical exhaustion at the number of decisions that I've been making on a daily basis, and the number of things being asked of me and about me.”
Just this year alone that's included launching the first season of Kat, a mental health podcast (Bialik Breakdown), raising two kids, planning a bar mitzvah, and taking care of a partner who recently underwent hip-replacement surgery. “As much as I try to take the Sabbath weekly as a respite, this year the Jewish new year really felt so powerful in the ability to unwind and just be,” she says.
But with plenty of questions that still remain in the Jeopardy! space, as well as how she'll juggle it all should she get the permanent job—which she says she wants—there's still a lot to be worked out. Here Bialik opens up to Glamour West Coast editor Jessica Radloff about everything that's happened and what's ahead.
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Glamour: Since Sony Pictures Television first announced that you would be hosting Jeopardy! prime-time tournaments, your name has been mentioned countless times on programs from NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt to Good Morning America. What has it been like to be part of such a national conversation on a near-daily basis?
Mayim Bialik: I don't watch, but I've felt it. Every few days for a couple months, I'll get texts or emails from people saying, “Oh my gosh. Wow, congratulations.” And I'll have to wonder, What are they seeing? What is the announcement that they think they saw? Then I'll get a series of texts of, “You're so strong. Stay strong. You're the bravest woman I know.” And then I know something bad has come out. [Laughs.] I've literally been living by the tide of other people's texts. My mother has every friend and yenta asking her things about me. She tries to play it cool, but I know that some of it has been hard for her. Sometimes I'll ask my publicist, “What happened today? Because Bev's upset.” A lot of us didn't realize how much and with what intensity people would be invested in these conversations about Jeopardy!. It is a brand, but it has been devoid of anything interesting besides being the fantastic cultural phenomenon that it is. This is not a world that has had drama. It's been a pretty wild ride.
You first guest-hosted episodes that aired in May. Were you hoping back then that this could turn into something? Because for some guest hosts, it was obvious it was just stunt-casting and they wouldn’t be leaving their regular job.
Having a full-time job [on Fox's Call Me Kat] didn't stop me from wanting it. But it really was after those two days that I realized I had never wanted anything more than that job. I'm not a person who leans deeply into intuition. I wish that I was. But this was a case where I intuitively felt something very special had happened for me in my life. From just those two days [taping episodes to air over two weeks]. I said to the crew, “I don't want to leave. I really don't want to leave.” And these are long days. These are not easy days. These are long days with someone, constantly, literally, in your ear. You need to think on your feet; you need to pronounce words in the Navajo language, which is not something I had ever done before. Learning to name the lakes of Africa. I'm literally being asked to squeeze my brain. It's not easy work. But there was something really special that I felt there, and I can't explain it.
Given that you’re a neuroscientist, I felt like you were an authority and knew everything you were talking about, even though it took a lot of work and prep.
No, I definitely don't know everything. No, no. There's a fine line, because you don't want to make it seem like you wish the contestants had known all the answers. You can't come off arrogant. I'll be honest, there are different standards for women in that role than men. You have to also be conscious of that.
You’ve said that former executive producer Mike Richards helped train you during your guest-hosting week that aired in May. Did you ever get the impression when you were working with him that he also wanted the host job?
No, I had no idea. I went in with my head down. I do what's in front of me, and that's just how I did it. I was basically relying on my 15-year-old, who's the one who told me I should guest-host Jeopardy!. I was relying on him telling me what the internet said.
When Sony Pictures Television announced the news that you and Mike would be hosting, they said, “We are thrilled to begin the next chapter of America’s Favorite Quiz Show with Mike hosting our daily show and Mayim hosting new versions of Jeopardy!” Many felt that the arrangement—and announcement—was unfair because, once again, a white male was being hired in the main role and a woman was in second position. What did you make of their announcement?
What I can say is that there's a lot more to all of these conversations than the public gets to know, and there's no component of saving face that's been part of this decision. Obviously people don't have to believe me, but yeah.
Less than two weeks after Mike Richards was named permanent Jeopardy! host, he stepped down when a report came out in The Ringer that he had made disparaging remarks about women and Jews in old episodes of his podcast. Given how vocal you are about what Judaism means to you, what was that like when you found out about his comments? How did that affect you?
I think not commenting is the safest thing to do. In his capacity as producer, I, of course, still had to work with him and speak with him and interact with him [when that report came out]. But that's because I'm a head-down kind of person, meaning I had to continue to work in the capacity that I did until he was no longer the person literally in my ear.
Have you talked to him since he left the show completely?
I'm not going to tell you any content of what that was, but yeah.
So tell me, how has this last month been for you? Because even though you’re keeping your head down, Jeopardy! has never been in the news quite like this.
It's definitely been stressful, but I don't want to come off as someone who's like, “This has been so hard for me and my family.” Because it really hasn't. Yeah, the press that the court of public opinion has sort of engaged in has been challenging. It's been challenging especially because I used to be the kind of person to defend myself vociferously when people said things about me that were blatantly untrue. But what I've learned is that it's best not to engage.
There were a lot of untrue things said about me. Many by publications that I previously grew up reading and believing in, so that's definitely been challenging. Also, the person who I'm in a relationship with [Bialik's podcast cohost, Jonathan Cohen] was having hip-replacement surgery as all this was going down. So when Mike Richards stepped down as host, I got that call in a hospital waiting room while my boyfriend was having surgery. I mention that because I've also been filming my podcast during this whole time that all the Jeopardy! stuff's been going on. It's been a lot of juggling and a very, very strange time because there's been a lot up in the air.
When you mentioned that publications you grew up reading were reporting things that were untrue about you, what were they saying?
Just people casting aspersions on my vaccine status, which I've been completely open about—my children being vaccinated, us all being vaccinated against COVID. Things like that. Those things are in particular hurtful because they're untrue. Also things like being accused of being anti-feminist because I support breastfeeding. That's just crazy.
So getting back to the hosting question: If you had been offered the nationally syndicated gig originally, would you have wanted to do it, given your already full schedule with Call Me Kat, the podcast, etc.?
The only other time in my life that I've said, “There's no better job than with this,” was when I was on The Big Bang Theory, and it was ending. People were like, “Do you want it to end?” And I said, “No. There's no other job that's been better than this.” But I have to say, the use of my brain and my skill set feels best suited by this job on Jeopardy! It is a dream job. I think it's a dream job for anyone, but especially for someone who is trained first as a performer and then as a science communicator. It's a dream. It's not just like, “Of course I want the job.” It's a special, special experience to be given this opportunity at all. Even for the two days that I originally did. That being said, the amount of schedule juggling which I'm currently doing right now is maddening. It takes a lot of humans and a lot of calendars and a lot of figuring out. So would I like to believe that it could have been done then? Sure. But there's also a lot of other pieces that I wasn't part of knowing about.
When does Call Me Kat go back into production?
We will film 18 episodes starting at the end of September through the end of March, but we have hiatus week every two or three weeks. Essentially every week that I have off, my children will be sharing it with Jeopardy!.
After Mike Richards stepped down as host and then lost the executive-producer job, what were those conversations like about having you fill in?
From the hospital waiting room, I said to my agent, “Please ask [the Jeopardy! producing team] how we can help.” That's literally what I said. I don't want to seem opportunistic, but I'm part of this family now. So I literally said, “How can I help?” I think we went to them before they came to us, to be honest. I stepped in, as I said, at a personally really difficult time, as my partner was rehabilitating. And then the next week I went in for three days [to start filming episodes of Jeopardy!]. It's just been…every three days, something changes. At that time Mike was still producing. So then that was the next phase, and then we had a week off; in that time he was no longer producing. That's when Michael Davies came in [as interim executive producer]. Then I went in last week…and it was the first time that I had been there with Michael Davies. So we're still in this phase. Nothing interesting seems to have happened in the last few days, except Sony issued a press release saying [Ken Jennings and I would be hosting through the end of the year].
What was the atmosphere been like since then on the Jeopardy! stage? Have things calmed down?
The people who work on that show, most of them have been there for decades. My job is to make everyone feel like it's business as usual. That's what we've done. We have five episodes to film every day, and those are long days. It's my job to be as seamless as possible and not be noticeable. Whether that's the pattern of my blazer, or the number of mistakes that I make that we need to do pickups for—that's what kind of job this is. I don't feel any of the drama when I'm there, and I would like to think that's hopefully what I can offer: that I don't read the news. In some cases, that's a detriment, because I don't always know what's going on. But I'm not checking Twitter on my way in to see who thinks should be on Jeopardy! that day. I go to work, and I do my job.
With the news that you and Ken Jennings would be sharing hosting duties through the rest of 2021, was that comforting in that you had some sort of stability going forward? Or at least some answers?
Yeah. I mean, for me, what I want is stability for the crew and for the staff and, as much as possible, for the viewers. There's a reason that Jeopardy!'s been known as a low-drama, no-drama form of entertainment. That's how it should be. So for me, being able to provide that, being able to have, like I said, a staff and a crew that feels taken care of and knows I'm going to get them home to their families as soon as possible, that's what a workday is for us.
So yeah, it's a relief to have some predictability in terms of scheduling. The thing about being on a sitcom is that I know my schedule. I know exactly where I'm supposed to be between now and the end of March. I have a very finite, specific form of flexibility. For me to know where my body is for those other days is very helpful. And of course, I'm an actor. I want to be loved and appreciated. [Laughs.] It's really nice they're going to continue to have me hanging around.
So it’s safe to say you want the Jeopardy! job permanently going forward, yes?
I think it's very clear. There's no other job I would rather have. I love my sitcom work, I do. I love all the other things I do. I love the podcast. But I absolutely have never had a better job.
Do you feel settled into the role now, compared with when you first guest-hosted? I would imagine in the beginning it felt like you were in a washing machine, going around and around, because there was so much happening.
Honestly, that's a little bit how every episode feels in the best way. I'm a nervous performer, even when I do sitcom work. I always have a sense of anxiety—positive, energetic anxiety. You cannot rest on any laurels with Jeopardy! You have to be constantly ready because, literally, I know it may not sound exciting to some people, but anything can happen in this kind of game. No one's going to get slimed. No one's going to fall off something. No one's going to break a bone. But it has its own kind of intellectual and cerebral excitement, and you have to be on your toes. So I maintain that kind of nervous energy and excitement every single episode. The days fly by. They are nonstop. The only way that I know that it's toward the end of the day is if I wear heels too much.
Have you even started filming the prime-time specials and spin-offs, starting with the Jeopardy! National College Championship?
Not yet. I do that in November.
Is there a world in which you could see yourself putting down one of your other projects if that meant being able to be the full-time host of Jeopardy!, or do you not even want to think about that yet?
I don't think that I have to think about it, which is why I haven't. I'm probably going to hang on to my kids, so the boyfriend with the new hip might be the first to go. [Laughs.]
How is he doing? How has his recovery been?
He's okay. It's a fascinating recovery, but he's young so that definitely is helpful because he can orient his body. They get you up same day with a new hip, which is unbelievable.
Truly. And by the way, did you ever meet Alex Trebek?
He was on an episode of Blossom, but it was a dream sequence. I'm pretty sure they filmed him on his set, and then we were spliced in. I think I've been a response on Jeopardy! more than once.
So what would you like to say to Alex’s fans, many of whom have been so distraught by what’s been going on?
What I'd like to say is: I'm not part of a lot that goes on, but the part that I am part of, I hope shows the dedication I have to his legacy, to this job, to the Jeopardy! brand. I'm trying to do my job with integrity and consistency. That's really all I'm interested in doing.
And what is your relationship like with Ken Jennings? Have you gotten to know him or even meet him yet?
We only got to meet at the press conference, which was the day before everything kind of started to unfold. He's much taller than I thought he'd be. I was surprised. [Laughs.] He seemed really lovely; because of COVID, we don't get to spend the kind of time that I wish we could. We haven't even really been able to connect, but I'm hoping that I'll get to spend some more time with him.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor. You can follow her on Twitter @JRadloff.
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast
