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Jeopardy! Finds Its New Guest Host in LeVar Burton, Crediting An Online Petition With Over 240,000 Signatures

Source: Jeopardy

The ever-popular American television game show created by Merv Griffin recently lost its iconic host, Alex Trebek, in 2020. Fans of the show have been mulling over for a lovely replacement who will fill the gaping void that Trebek left after his departure.

Nowadays, a series of guest hosts have been moderating the show, starting with consulting producer and former contestant Ken Jennings, who holds the record of most Jeopardy! wins with his phenomenal 74-game winning streak. Jennings hosted the show from January 11 to February 19, 2021.

LeVar Burton recently announced his interest in hosting the program due to his love and admiration for the show. Fans quickly came to his rescue, with over 200,000 people signing a petition to name him as the new Jeopardy! host.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation star is poised to be part of the final group of guest hosts for the popular quiz show. Throughout his career, Burton has inspired and shaped the minds of several generations of trivia-loving nerds as a long-time host of the children’s television show Reading Rainbow.

In a written email, a spokeswoman for Burton said that he believes the petition drive and his social media engagement with his fans were huge factors toward him becoming a Jeopardy! guest host.

George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts of ABC and David Faber of CNBC and sportscaster Joe Buck are the other temp hosts getting one-week stints, Sony said Wednesday. The air dates, however, have yet to be announced.

It’s amazing to see so much support for LeVar Burton, and he is truly deserving of the title as guest host or even making it all the way to hosting the entire show for years to come.

The executive producer of the show, Mike Richards, says that their goal has always been to present a wide variety of guest hosts with different sets of skills and diverse backgrounds so they could find a new permanent host. “Our passionate fans are telling us what they like, and we are listening,” adds Richards. Mike Richards himself also served as a guest host for the renowned quiz show, and now they are looking to add more talented individuals to the roster.

The petition for LeVar Burton to host Jeopardy! began on Change.org in November of 2020. The petition was endorsed by Burton himself at the beginning of April, and now the petition has garnered over 240,000 signatures online. Burton personally thanked the person who started the petition on Twitter following the announcement of him becoming a guest host.

According to the release, LeVar Burton and the new roster of guest hosts will take the lectern for one-week stints starting some time in June. Burton himself will host from July 26 to July 30.

This season of Jeopardy! has been hosted by Ken Jennings, Mike Richards, Katie Couric, Dr. Oz and Aaron Rodgers. Anderson Cooper is currently hosting, and will be followed by Bill Whitaker, Jeopardy! All-Star Buzzy Cohen, actress Mayim Bialik, Savannah Guthrie, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

References:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/22/levar-burton-jeapordy-reading-rainbow/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/arts/television/levar-burton-jeopardy-host.html

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/levar-burton-jeopardy-guest-host-petition-credited-77225258

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