“Just awful”: Jeopardy! fans are upset as Mayim Bialik hosts High School Reunion Tournament

Jeopardy! took a break from airing season 39 and launched a new competition, High School Reunion Tournament.

While the regular episodes are hosted by Ken Jennings, the new tournament’s hosting duty was given to Mayim Bialik.

The Big Bang Theory actress has often received backlash from viewers for being the host of the Emmy-winning game show. Hence, her appearance in episode 1 of the High School Reunion Tournament left fans upset.

Prior to the latest tournament, she was the host of Celebrity Jeopardy!

Mayim joined the franchise last year and confirmed her position as a co-host with Ken during the latest season.

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Fans call Mayim Bialik a “humorless” host

Mayim Bialik returned to the late Alex Trebek stage as the host of Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament. She will be conducting the three-week-long quiz competition until its finale episode.

Fans were not thrilled with Mayim’s return and wanted Ken Jennings back on the show. Viewers called her “humorless” and deemed her the “worst.”

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Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament format

Jeopardy! High School Reunion Tournament aired the first episode of its quarterfinals on Monday, February 20, 2023. It took the place of the regular season 39 episodes.

As per the tournament’s format, nine quarterfinals are to be held with three players in each episode. The winner of every quarterfinal will advance to the semifinals, followed by the finals. The champion will receive $100,000 prize money and a spot in the Tournament of Champions 2023.

The contestants are former Jeopardy! players from Teen Tournaments who are now in high school and college. In episode 1, the contestants were Maya Wright, a senior at Emory University from Peachtree City, Georgia, Audrey Sarin, a senior at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo from Seattle, Washington, and Rohit Kataria, a junior at Vanderbilt University from Wheelersburg, Ohio.

All three played decently well in the game show's latest episode. Maya won the first quarterfinal episode and advanced to the semi-finals.

Take a look at all the upcoming quarterfinalists:

Episode 2: Avi Gupta (Teen Tournament II Champion), a senior at Stanford University

Jack Izzo, a senior at Northwestern University

Alison Purcell, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin

Episode 3: Stephanie Pierson, a junior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Autumn Shelton, a junior at Princeton University

Sreekar Madabushi, a junior at Georgia Tech

Episode 4: Justin Bolsen, a freshman at Brown University

Shriya Yarlagadda, a sophomore at Harvard University

Teagan O'Sullivan, a freshman at American University

Episode 5: Jackson Jones, a junior at Vanderbilt University

Isabella Pagano, a freshman at CalTech

Ryan Presler, a senior at Brandon Valley High School

Episode 6: Rohan Kapileshwari, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin

Claire Sattler (Teen Tournament I Champion), now a senior at Yale University

Rhea Sinha, a recent graduate at Cornell University

Episode 7: Lucas Miner, a junior at Yale University in New Haven

Anish Maddipoti, a junior at the University of Texas at Austin

Audrey Satchivi, a senior at Indiana University

Episode 8: Tim Cho, a senior at Columbia University in New York

Dan Oxman, a senior at the University of Maryland

Eesha Sohail, a recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles

Episode 9: Hannah Nekritz, a senior at Brandeis University

Caleb Richmond, a sophomore at Georgetown University

Maggie Brown, a junior at the University of West Florida

The entire tournament will be hosted by Mayim Bialik. After three weeks, Season 39 will return with new episodes, hosted by Ken Jennings.

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Jeopardy! is a syndicated TV program, which airs from Monday through Friday.