The Jeopardy! debate rages on, even as Ken Jennings remains the man behind the lectern for the foreseeable future — both on syndicated episodes and in the primetime Celebrity Jeopardy! tournament. No timetable has been announced for Mayim Bialik’s return to the quiz show, even as the writers return following the end of the WGA strike, but that hasn’t kept people from continuing to voice their opinions on the two co-hosts. Now, super-champ Amy Schneider is singing the GOAT’s praises and confirming what he and Bialik have said about hosting being harder than it looks on TV.
Amy Schneider’s history-making run on Jeopardy! began in late 2021, when she became the first openly transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. She won that tournament, too, becoming one of Jeopardy!’s biggest winners and amassing over $1.6 million to date after being one of just six players to compete in the inaugural Jeopardy! Masters tournament in 2022. However, when it comes to the “Ken Jennings vs. Mayim Bialik” debate, she explained why that’s the rare question she can’t answer, telling TV Insider:
I only had Ken as a host, so to some extent, I can’t judge exactly, but I loved Ken as a host. I think that it’s so comforting as a contestant to know that he has been where you are, and I think he has a real feel for the flow of the game.
Fellow Jeopardy! Masters competitor Mattea Roach has expressed a similar sentiment about how special it is to share the stage with Ken Jennings, given his history as a contestant.
Amy Schneider has said she was actually supposed to be on the show with Alex Trebek, but due to COVID, her tape date kept getting rescheduled, and since she never competed with Mayim Bialik as the host, she couldn’t say who was technically better. That didn’t stop her from complimenting Jennings for the job he’s doing, and she made a really good point about what we see at home vs. what happens in the studio. Schneider continued:
Hosting is a lot harder of a job than it looks. You don’t see. It’s all edited together to make it look like they never stumble over any clues or get anything wrong, but it’s really hard.
Those of us watching at home can enjoy bouncing back and forth between the players and clues with no concern at all for how things actually played out before editing. It’s important for contestants to get into a rhythm while playing, but they can’t do that if there are constant reshoots due to a clue being misread or hourlong shutdowns when score changes are being debated. That’s a lot of pressure on Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik to not make a mistake!
That pressure is all on Ken Jennings currently, so catch him on Celebrity Jeopardy! at 8 p.m. ET Wednesdays on ABC, and check your local listings to see when Jeopardy! airs in syndication in your area.