Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik returns to harsh reviews as 2-day champ Kevin Belle admits he was 'lost'

May 2024 · 4 minute read

The JEOPARDY! contestant who won Monday's episode wrote on Reddit that the game's triple stumper Final Jeopardy question left him "completely lost."

Fans were also mixed on Mayim Bialik's first episode back and the very concept of her hosting instead of Ken Jennings for the foreseeable future.

Returning champ Kevin Belle faced Cyrus Zhou, a graduate student from St. Louis, Missouri, and Maryhelen Shuman-Groh, a retired university administrator from Clearwater, Florida.

Kevin is a trail planner from Silver Spring, Maryland, who became the one to beat with a one-day total of $11,599.

Mayim, 47, opened her first Jeopardy! episode in 10 months barring a recent teen tournament by acknowledging that it's been a while.

The actress hasn't hosted this season, which began last September.

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She last hosted in the late summer.

She said: “I'm thrilled to be back on the Alex Trebek stage” and congratulated Kevin, who on Friday proudly shared that he's also known as Whisky Ginger, which is his drag persona.

Kevin and Maryhelen both did well on the second round's Daily Doubles.

Going into Final Jeopardy, Kevin had $14,000, while Maryhelen had $9,800 and Cyrus $7,600.

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'I WAS COMPLETELY LOST'

The category for Final Jeopardy was 18th Century Literature.

The clue read: "The first name of this title character is from Hebrew for 'devoted to God'; his last name suggests he can be easily duped."

No one could guess Lemuel Gulliver within the 30 seconds, and Cyrus looked especially confused.

Lemuel Gulliver is the title character of Jonathan Swift’s 1726 satirical work Gulliver’s Travels - as Mayim explained from her cue card.

Kevin went with a small wager of $1,201 and held out with $12,799, coming to a two-day total of $24,398.

"Hard Final Jeopardy's have returned, I see," one user wrote in a Reddit thread.

Another said the last clues "get harder depending on how much of their seasonal budget allocation they've gone through."

A third fan said: "Gullible to Gulliver seemed like a pretty easy jump to me."

A fourth said: "I don't know if I'd say it was a 'pretty easy jump' because one still has half of the clue that is a mystery."

Others wondered if just the last name would have sufficed.

"That’s how Mayim worded it, so I’d assume so," one viewer wrote, but others yet felt the show wanted both.

"In the past few weeks, the 'get rate' on Final Jeopardy has been in the neighborhood of 15%," lamented a Redditor.

Another upcoming contestant wrote: "I was watching this game backstage with the other contestants-in-waiting and I don't think a single one of us got it! I wouldn't have come up with Lemuel if you gave me fifty tries."

Champ Kevin wrote: "This makes me feel better. You can tell by my answer that I was completely lost myself!"

Since the April 17 episode, there have been six triple-stumper Final Jeopardy clues out of 11.

There hasn't been a four-day winner on Jeopardy! since Stephen Webb's eight-day streak ended on March 16 - and only two three-day winners.

'ALREADY MISS KEN'

Meanwhile, fans were also split on Mayim's return as host instead of Ken Jennings, 48.

One fan wrote on Twitter: "Took five minutes before I started to miss Ken."

"Wellll time to stop watching Jeopardy! again," posted another.

"Can’t believe we’re stuck with Mayim Bialik the rest of the this season. So bad," wrote a third.

A fourth wrote: "I love Jeopardy but can't stand those pauses she does. She's probably a really nice person but damn she's annoying with the pauses."

A fifth asked: "I'm not trying to start any Ken vs Mayim debate, but does anyone know when Ken returns?" another just wrote: "Oh great."

KEN'S LONG HIATUS BEGINS

Ken will not be helming regularly airing episodes for the rest of the season.

Mayim will host until the season ends in the summer.

Ken will be hosting the three-week-long $500K Jeopardy! Masters tournament in primetime on ABC starting May 8, but otherwise, the largely preferred 74-time winner-turned-host will not return until September.

When Ken returns he will kick Season 40 off with the Tournament of Champions, which will be the start of the season.

Fans have simply made it clear that they prefer Ken's hosting style and think he's shown marked improvements since starting in 2021.

Last year, Amy Schneider and Mattea Roach stated in interviews that they prefer Ken, as did divisive three-day champ Jake Dearruda, who slammed Mayim as "inexperienced."

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Even Mayim is aware of her mixed reception, sharing on her own podcast recently: "Sometimes I get, 'We don't prefer you to Ken.'"

Jeopardy! Masters - which isn't done filming yet due to some unexpected blips- includes the high-earners whom fans seem to be missing like Mattea, as well as Amy Schneider and James Holzhauer.

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