JEOPARDY! fans slammed Mayim Bialik’s hosting on Thursday.
She scored backlash for repeating her “awful” habit of “interrupting” a shaken new player.
Mayim, 46, is hosting Jeopardy! for the seventh straight week after Ken Jennings' earlier stretch and his announcement he'd be out for "months."
The permanent hosting decision, however, is still on the board and is said to be sealed by the end of Season 38 in July 2022.
Tonight returning champ Halley Ryherd was outmatched after one win – and unfortunately, an 'unfunky' music mixup-gone-viral – by Dave Bdzak, a Syracuse, New York Philosophy Professor.
But fans missing Ken were infuriated once more as Mayim made a categorically clunky move.
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The Double Jeopardy clue read: “Louis ‘Grandpa’ Jones was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry & a longtime cast member of this country music TV show.”
Middle podium’s Dave buzzed in correctly with: “What is: Hee Haw.”
Mayim replied: “Correct!”
Dave then had a lead with $13,000 to Halley’s $5600 and right podium Hoa Quach’s $11,900.
He seemed confident and proceeded to choose his next clue.
He said: “Finish the category for-”
But he was then stopped by Mayim, who declared, “That puts you in the lead!”
A stunned-appearing Dave then kept moving along the board.
'ARE YOU KIDDING ME?'
But fans were floored that the actress-turned-host felt the need to halt gameplay for a lead change.
“You've got to be kidding me, Mayim Bialik," one YouTube commenter wrote on the clip.
“She has terrible timing. Absolutely the worst host," bashed another.
"Mayim is ruining Jeopardy for me," a third sadly remarked on Twitter.
Another fan accusingly tweeted that the host regularly declares who is in the lead at random times and interrupts players in general.
"Jeopardy is kinda sucking lately … Mayim Bialik interrupting the flow to announce every lead change."
A fourth went long: "Mayim breaking the flow of the game to announce a lead change at an inopportune moment, in the middle of a contestant trying to speak…
"Why is there so little progress despite the 100+ games she has hosted so far? Can’t wait for Ken to come back as host (July 18!!!)."
Another shocking pattern came across the board in Final Jeopardy.
For the third day in a row, it was a triple stumper. At the end of it – and after no contestant wrote down the city "Portland Oregon," Dave had the most money, so he'll return tomorrow.
Dave won with $2000 total (as much as second place's consolation prize) in the wild FJ finish.
It read: "This U.S. city now has 10 times the population of the other U.S. city for which it was named in 1845."
None of the three players were close, and fans were simply unhappy the Mayim-hosted games are stumping so many at the end – two wrote "New York."
"11 out of 12 incorrect FJ responses this week so far. That is just awful," one fan claimed on the rough week on YouTube.
"Ask 100 people that FJ question and unless you lived there no one would get it. Stupid Question," bashed another.
'WHERE IS: KEN?'
Ken and Mayim began filling in for the legendary Alex Trebek after his tragic 2020 passing and a fleet of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts, including now-disgraced Mike Richards.
The show's ratings nearly doubled to 9.7M viewers when Ken made his first appearance.
When Mayim took over her hosting duties the headcount dropped to 5.9 million viewers during a college championship and indeed, she hasn't bested Ken's ratings since during Season 38.
While fans have found Mayim to be a perfectly plucky presence, hundreds have tweeted about her off-putting poise during the typically enjoyable Q&A shares, "slow" response time to contestants, and controversially erroneous games compared to Ken.
Mayim faced fan fury when a player's signature was ruled too sloppy in FJ though she had seemingly written "Harriet Tubman."
And last week – though not the actress-turned host's fault – there was ironically a typo in Final Jeopardy just days after the spelling snub which couldn't have come at a worse time.
She also recently made an off-color joke about marijuana and seemed to recently misunderstand the legacy of the band Queen.
Others have knocked Mayim's difficulty multitasking on stage – admittedly no easy feat.
"Her cadence is so off. It's unsettling to watch. It's like watching a band live when the drummer can't keep a straight beat. I just can't with that so I had to quit watching after years," one earlier tweeted.
The fan-preferred former player surprisingly tweeted in May, “I'm handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months," adding, “We are lucky to have her! I'll be back before the end of the season.”
Since then, he's been 'lei-ing' low in Hawaii and at home in Seattle, Washington – though he's said he's already been tapped to tape more episodes for Season 39 and return mid-July as many fans are hoping the co-host arrangement will end.
Ken also recently accepted the show's Daytime Emmy without Mayim, which many felt was a hint he'd continue carrying the torch in itself.
One possibility that has been implied by execs is that the actress could simply host spinoffs soon, perhaps with Buzzy Cohen.
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If so, and as many are hoping, Ken would host the main show, with "multiple hosts for the franchise" altogether – others just want him to come back.
Jeopardy! airs on weeknights at 7 pm ET.
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