Mayim Bialik is not shy about her desire to become the permanent “Jeopardy!” host.
“I think it’s very clear. There’s no other job I would rather have,” Bialik told Glamour magazine in an interview. “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.”
Bialik is back at the podium for an extended run starting this week, taking over for the short-lived Mike Richards who left after four days on the job. Her run will last for a few weeks on episodes that will air through Nov. 5.
After that, Bialik and the show’s consulting producer Ken Jennings will split hosting duties through the rest of 2021. Bialik and Jennings were among the rotating panel of celebrities who guest-hosted “Jeopardy!” after the passing of beloved host Alex Trebek in November 2020.
She also stars on the Fox sitcom “Call Me Kat,” which returns for Season 2 this year.
“Having a full-time job 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,” she continued. “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.’”
Bialik has been on board to host primetime “Jeopardy!” specials and potential spinoffs. She starts taping those in November.
Richards exited as permanent host of the syndicated Sony quiz show, which has just entered its 38th season, just one day after it returned to production, following the resurfacing of a gender discrimination lawsuit from his time with “The Price is Right” and multiple misogynistic comments he made on a podcast he co-hosted last decade. Richards taped five episodes.
Bialik told Glamour she has talked to Richards but would not divulge what was said.