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Sports and Entertainment
Maybe you really are a game manager!
New York Jets star quarterback Rodgers was actually “the most poised” among a group of other top celebrities to succeed the late great Alex Trebek, a “Jeopardy!” the host stated.
Mike Richards, 48, former “Jeopardy!” The producer who hosted the show for a day after Trebek’s death revealed that Rodgers ticked all the boxes to be the favorite for the job in 2021, but his career on the field was an obstacle.
“Aaron Rodgers was definitely the most prepared.” Richards told People. “I was impressed by that, the intensity with which he prepared, and he was very kind to all the staff members.”
“But in the end I was concerned about his other work, which he does at a fairly high level. I was like, ‘How are you going to figure this out with football scheduling?’ He said, ‘You’ll find out!'” Richards added.
Aaron Rodgers is no stranger to “Jeopardy!”, as he guest hosted the show for a two-week period that had fans raving about his fill-in performance.
The quarterback raised $236,725 in the program for the North Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in his hometown of Chico, California.
Richards said Rodgers was a big fan of the show, which helped make him stand out from other guest hosts like ABC’s Good Morning America host Robin Roberts and former CBS host Katie Couric.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, TV star Mayim Bialik and current anchor Ken Jennings were also in the mix.
Rodgers also participated in the show, where he won the “Celebrity Jeopardy!” in 2015, when he competed against astronaut Mark Kelly and “Shark Tank” entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary.
Rodgers said he would have accepted an offer if he had been asked to take the job full-time.
However, Richards was eventually given the job instead of Rodgers, leaving “Jeopardy!” Fans are skeptical about how the show’s former producer pulled it off.
“No one was more surprised than me,” said Richards, also a former host of the reality series “Beauty & the Geek” and “New Year’s Rocking Eve in 2005.” “Everyone was very angry because it seemed like I had walked into a room and chosen myself.”
“They said, ‘We’d like you to host the syndicated version of ‘Jeopardy!’ I paused and said, ‘Oh, wow. Thank you. What is the media plan? Because I was very concerned that this was going to be scrutinized as closely as a presidential election,” Richards said.
Richards was fired after one episode of his new hosting job when the Anti-Defamation League called for an investigation into derogatory comments he made on “The Randumb Show” in 2014.
The former “Jeopardy!” The host apologized for the comments made, but it came at the same time he came under fire with a lawsuit for wrongful termination and discrimination filed by the show’s models.