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On Friday, Dec. 15, 2023, Jeopardy! fans had one-half of a bombshell dropped on them when Mayim Bialik announced that she’d been let go by Sony. She had hosted the trivia show for over two years, swapping duties back and forth with Jeopardy! champion and alleged giant Keebler elf Ken Jennings.
Bialik was nonspecific in describing the reason for her abrupt exit. Only sharing that Jeopardy! production company Sony Pictures Television had “informed” her she would not be returning to her position following the holiday break, she thanked everyone involved, expressed pride in her Emmy nomination, and left fans with plenty of concerns, many of them in the form of a question.
For their part, Sony also refused to go into detail, stating that they simply felt that it was time for Jeopardy! to have only one host and expressed their hope to “continue working with (Bialik) on primetime specials.”
Sadly, outside of the studio, there are no judges to turn to for answers to difficult problems, so it falls on us to do some digging. There are a few potential points of friction that could have prompted Sony to make the decision to cut the Big Bang Theory star from the series, which celebrates its 60th year in 2024.
Did Mayim Bialik’s Jeopardy! firing come down to ratings?
Could Biyalik’s firing have just come down to the fact that she didn’t have the same pull as Ken Jennings?
No, not according to Jeopardy! EP Michael Davies, who has admitted in May 2023 that Bialik and Jennings’ ratings are virtually identical. He also explained that even though social media is the bigger barometer in making such evaluations, their assessments have shown that fans don’t overly prefer or detest one host in comparison to the other.
So, unless this data drastically shifted in the last few months, it is time to make a segue into the next possible reason…
Did Mayim Bialik’s divisive opinions have anything to do with her Jeopardy! firing?
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the geopolitical eggshells that celebrities walk over on social media have gotten, inarguably, thinner. The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, with its litany of horrors, has reactions on a hair trigger, with studios openly ending high-profile contracts with performers over their publicly stated opinions.
Bialik has been openly vocal regarding the events, with posts ranging from “wishing everyone some light in the darkness” to sternly-worded calls for an end to indefensible acts alleged to have been carried out by Hamas. The timing, onlookers have noticed, is suspicious.
Unnamed sources speaking with The Wrap were of two minds about the idea that Bialik’s statements might have had something to do with the termination of her contract. While an insider stressed that “the timing of the decision points to the social media activity being a contributing factor given that (Bialik) was still under contract to host the show,” a separate source assured that Bialik’s views had “absolutely” nothing to do with her dismissal.
Also, the above-mentioned instances aren’t the first time when Bialik found herself in the spotlight for controversial remarks in the public sphere. In 2012, the performer and neuroscientist released Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way, drawing on both her studies and her experience as a mother.
In one segment of the book, Bialik asserted that she and her then-husband Michael Stone had elected not to vaccinate their children “after sufficient research, which today is within reach of every parent who seeks to learn about their child’s health regardless of their medical knowledge or educational status.” It’s the sort of “do your own research” rallying cry that would eventually gestate into severely damaging conspiracy theories. For obvious reasons, this statement became something of a talking point when she was announced as one of the successors of Alex Trebek during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bialik would go on to clarify that she’d since reconsidered her stance on vaccines, telling the Associated Press that she and her family are now vaccinated. Still, as she pointed out, the “court of public opinion” had made up its mind.
Then there is also the fact that earlier this year, she stepped away from the show in solidarity with the WGA strike, leaving Jennings to host it when it premiered.
In the days that follow, it seems inevitable that more tea will be spilled about the dismissal of Mayim Bialik. Until then, an informed guess is as good as an unfounded rumor.