Ever since longtime Jeopardy host Alex Trebek passed away, the long-running game show’s
producers have been scrambling to find a permanent replacement for the beloved icon.
Many famous candidates were given the opportunity to try their hand at hosting the program in
guest stints.
Such frontrunners included LeVar Burton.
However, the search came to a shocking ending when one of the producers that were tasked
with finding a replacement host gave the job to himself.
That producer was Mike Richards, who has since given up the title as a result of the backlash.
Join Facts Verse as new Jeopardy host Mike Richards quits after 1 day.
Just nine days after being announced as the permanent replacement for recently deceased
Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, Mike Richards has stepped down from the position.
Mike has been an executive producer on the program and was greatly involved in the search
for a replacement after Alex’s passing.
Given the man’s involvement, many were suspicious when the news was announced that he was going
to be Jeopardy’s new permanent host, with many believing that Mike had simply given
himself the position.
There was a good deal of controversy when Mike was announced as the new host of Jeopardy,
but nothing came to a head until remarks surfaced that the executive producer had made on a
podcast several years prior.
Before becoming the executive producer of Jeopardy, Mike had fulfilled that same role
on The Price Is Right for over a decade.
While working as an executive producer on The Price Is Right, Mike started a podcast
called The Randumb Show.
The podcast was meant to give viewers some insight into what it was like to produce a
game show.
However, the team behind The Price Is Right has recently claimed to have not had any involvement
with the production of the podcast.
In the wake of Mike’s announcement as Alex’s permanent replacement on Jeopardy, some problematic
comments that the man had made while hosting The Randumb Show were brought to light.
These comments were decidedly sexist in nature and served to reinforce prior allegations
that had been made against the game show executive producer.
The revelation of these comments prompted Mike to remove all cataloged episodes of The
Randumb Show from the internet, but not before the Anti-Defamation League sprung into action
to call for an investigation revolving around him.
As a result of the investigation that had been ordered by the Anti-Defamation League,
Mike was found to be unfit to continue on as the permanent host of Jeopardy.
Mike was asked to step down from the role, though it appears that he will be allowed
to stay on as an executive producer for the time being.
Mike had only filmed one day’s worth of episodes of Jeopardy before stepping down
from his new position.
Mike had been announced as the new permanent host of Jeopardy on August 11.
He had only been the executive producer of the program for a little over a year but had
been given the ability to exercise a good deal of control over the process by which
a replacement for Alex was picked.
Because of this, there was a great deal of controversy when it was announced that the
man had essentially picked himself for the role.
Some of the many qualified candidates that had vied for the position included television
staple and Reading Rainbow alum LeVar Burton, as well as beloved Jeopardy contestant and
consulting producer Ken Jennings.
Beyond fans being unhappy with the announcement that Mike was to become the permanent replacement
for Alex Trebek, there have also been rumors that the crew of Jeopardy has been unhappy
under Mike’s leadership.
Since Mike has become executive producer of the game show, the morale of the crew is said
to have decreased a considerable amount.
A similar phenomenon was said to have occurred soon after Mike became an executive producer
on The Price Is Right.
According to insiders, it appears as if Mike has always viewed himself as being better
than those working under him, and has always viewed his end goal as becoming the host of
whatever game show he is in charge of.
In addition to the disparaging comments against women that Mike had made on his podcast being
brought to light after his announcement as Alex Trebek’s permanent replacement, there
were also various lawsuits that had been dug up from the time when he was an executive
producer on The Price Is Right.
Apparently, Mike had a habit of treating his female workers inconsiderately.
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One of the lawsuits that were brought to light after Mike Richards was announced as the new
host of Jeopardy was a 2010 lawsuit that had been filed by a woman by the name of Brandi
Cochran.
The lawsuit claimed that the woman had experienced both discrimination and harassment while working
as a model on the set of The Price Is Right under the direct watchful eye of Mike, acting
as executive producer.
Apparently, Brandi became pregnant.
When it came time to announce her pregnancy to Mike, the producer scoffed and said that
he should’ve laid her off before it happened, as he had recently laid several other models
off from the program and could’ve easily picked her to go instead.
In addition to the aforementioned incident, the lawsuit also expressed that Mike had made
a habit of encouraging the models to wear smaller and more revealing outfits over time.
Though it may not have been illegal, it showed that Mike was a man that wasn’t afraid to
view women as objects in order to get ratings for his program.
Given today’s political climate, behavior like this doesn’t always fly with modern
audiences.
Mike was hired as an executive producer on Jeopardy in May of 2020, He was hired as a
replacement for Harry Friedman, who had held the role for 23 years.
Harry was largely responsible for Jeopardy becoming as successful as it was, and Mike
had some large shoes to fill.
Mike was given the ability to shadow Harry for about half a year before being given the
job.
Soon after Mike started acting as executive producer on Jeopardy, Alex Trebek passed away.
After Alex passed away, the void the longtime host left was filled with various guest hosts.
Behind the scenes, the producers were hard at work to find a permanent replacement for
the beloved host.
Heading the search was Mike himself, who hadn’t even been acting in the role of executive
producer for a year at that point.
When the search for a permanent replacement for Alex Trebek began, Mike wasn’t one of
the main candidates.
However, the man started being increasingly brought up in discussions and was soon being
ranked amongst the frontrunners to potentially fill the position.
Many have come to speculate that Mike was doing devious things behind the scenes to
help himself stand out as a potential host.
Given that Mike was the one charged with trying out guest hosts to see who might make a good
permanent replacement for Alex Trebek, it’s not hard to imagine how the executive producer
could’ve sabotaged the operation in his favor.
There are numerous ways that Mike was said to have exerted his influence to guarantee
himself an easy victory.
The producers made a big deal about the fact that they were using cutting-edge analytics
to help determine who the best permanent replacement for Alex Trebek might be.
This included audience testing, with several episodes being selected for testing in front
of audiences after they were filmed.
As it turns out, Mike was the one in charge of picking out which episodes were sent to
the test audiences.
One potential replacement for Alex Trebek that has proved incredibly popular amongst
fans is LeVar Burton.
Because of this, fans were shocked when LeVar was given half as much time to try his hand
at being a guest host in comparison to nearly every other candidate.
As well, the episodes that LeVar was given guest-hosting duties on were aired during
the Summer Olympics, a time when Jeopardy notoriously always struggled in the ratings.
Both of these things severely hurt LeVar’s chances of standing out as a potential permanent
replacement for Alex Trebek, and many believe that Mike orchestrated things to happen this
way.
Mike started working in the entertainment industry over two decades ago, in 1997.
His first job was as an intern behind the scenes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
From there, Mike proved his worth to the staff and was given a full-time job as a production
assistant.
Eventually, Mike worked his way up to being a television host, working on reality series
such as High School Reunion and Beauty and the Geek.
In 2008, Mike auditioned to become Bob Barker’s replacement on The Price Is Right.
Though the role went to Drew Carrey, Mike made enough of an impression that he was hired
on as an executive producer.
Over a decade later, he left and was hired on to executive produce Jeopardy.
Now that Mike is no longer going to be the permanent host of Jeopardy, it looks like
fans are going to be subjected to another few rounds of guest hosts.
It still remains unclear who the permanent replacement for Alex Trebek will be, though
fan favorites LeVar Burton and Ken Jennings are still in the running.
Hopefully, whoever ends up being given the position won’t be forced to wear too revealing
of an outfit.
Many fans are likely relieved that Mike Richards has stepped down from his incredibly short-lived
time as the new host of Jeopardy.
Comment down below to share whether or not you’re happy to see the man relegated back
to his executive producer capacity, or if you have any opinions about who the real permanent
replacement for Alex Trebek should be.
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