Mike Richards Out As Host of 'Jeopardy!' After Controversy

We kind of figured that replacing the late great Alex Trebeck was going to be a challenge for the folks at ‘Jeopardy!’ That being said, predicting it would be such a hard and controversial endeavor was probably not in the cards for anyone. Amidst a ton of controversy and after watching droves of guest stars host, the show producers finally settled on one of their own. Mike Richards was set to take the baton and run with the show. About 2 weeks since he was announced as Trebeck’s full-time replacement, he’s out!    

Producers of the show are saying that it was actually Richards’ decision to step away. As part of the executive producers' group, it’s safe to say that he had a big hand in landing himself the gig. His past came back to haunt him, though. During his time hosting The Randumb Show, he’d reportedly offended multiple women who worked on the show. Even potentially mocking them on the air. Ultimately, behind closed doors, it was decided that Richards should step down. Richards himself, though, is embracing the decision as his own. 

This Friday, Richards put out a memo that was distributed to the staff on the show. In which he revealed that he is out as host. Choosing to stop production of the show with him as host immediately. Part of the memo read, 

“As I mentioned last week, I was deeply honored to be asked to host the syndicated show and was thrilled by the opportunity to expand my role. However, over the last several days it has become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show”   

Although he is stepping down as the main host of the show, Richards is set to continue to be involved in producing it. Sources inside the show are claiming that the idea is still to allow Richards to be heavily active in the production of the show. As he seems to be a well-respected member of the production team. He’s been working behind the scenes on the program for the last 2 years. Reportedly, he was heavily involved in bringing along a lot of the guest stars that hosted the show in recent months.    

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Now the search begins again, there’s really not much more to it. In his memo, Richards described what the production team is hoping to do moving forward. From the looks of things, they’ll just finish out the season with the guest host format that they’ve been sticking to. In hopes to allow the team to find a permanent show host that doesn’t come with as much baggage as Richards did. It could be an awkward process, though, with Richards still heavily involved in the screening process, and the hiring of a new host.