JEOPARDY! fans have claimed they know the “EXACT date” Ken Jennings will return.
Internet sleuths even “spotted clues” as to where he’s been since announcing his hosting hiatus in early May.
Mayim Bialik, 46, has hosted Jeopardy! for the last three weeks, returning after alum Ken, 47, had the prior three weeks at the revered podium.
Ken hosted through Canadian tutor Mattea Roach’s 23-game tear, which ended on May 7th when the now-5th longest-running victor ever lost by $1.
The same day, he shocked the fanbase with his own announcement.
“I’m handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months,” the fan-favorite tweeted out of nowhere, adding, “We are lucky to have her! I’ll be back before the end of the season.”
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Many fans have supported Ken’s decision to take a breather, as one replied, “You will be missed!”
However, another wrote, “A few months?! That’s a long time without the true host.”
The permanent hosting slot is still on the board and will be decided by the end of Season 38 in July 2022.
Many fans prefer Ken since he famously won the most games of Jeopardy! himself in 2004 and seems like the natural successor to Alex Trebek.
Hungry for answers (not in the form of questions), fans have now claimed they know when Ken will be returning, and just where he’s been.
JULY JENNINGS?
The ardent Jeopardy! Reddit group claimed Ken will be returning soon, but not just yet.
One user claimed, “My advanced Xfinity listings say that Mayim will be hosting through at least the week of June 20 and presumably, the week of June 27, since that would have been taped the day after.”
Jeopardy! famously pre-tapes its episodes – which shoots five games in a day – around two months in advance.
Season 38 has wrapped filming.
“So assuming Mayim is hosting through July 1, Ken won’t return until July 4 at the earliest,” they added.
TRIP TO HAWAII & ‘LEI’-ING LOW
Ken doesn’t have Instagram – and his Twitter dispatches during his hiatus have not had a location-tagged.
On May 10th, three days after his first announcement, Ken shared a photo of a sign that read: “Aloha spirit required here.”
He captioned it with a signature joke, “The aloha spirit is a LITTLE bit passive-aggressive and I like it.”
“Ken, please enjoy the islands,” one fan wrote as it seemed his host hiatus included a stop in Hawaii.
Another simply penned, “Let me know when you are back on Jeopardy so I can start watching again.”
On May 15th, Ken tweeted, “Lots of people at the airport wearing caps, and lots of people wearing masks. I appear to be the only combo, where my cap+mask bros at???”
Fans claimed this meant he had returned from his tropical trip – especially since on May 19th, he appeared to share a photo opening a package at home in Seattle, Washington.
He’s lived in his $3M mountainous mansion for eight years and is originally from Washington.
On May 25, Ken then shared a snap of a ferry with “bouy” misspelled, which would upset any gameshow vet.
One fan claimed he was still in his home state and wrote, “Is this Washington State Ferry?”
Another replied, “I could be wrong, but I think that’s exactly what it is.”
HOST WITH THE MOST
While many fans have found Mayim to be a perfectly palatable presence, she has had some “painful” games since returning.
Mayim, who studied neuroscience, replied to one contestant’s earnest autism testing Q&A with a joke: “Glad to hear spitting in a tube went better than taking blood,” the host bluntly said.
Mayim had another joke that flatlined before Ken returned for his recent stretch – she told a doctor he was “just an anesthesiologist, not a surgeon.”
She also made an off-color joke about marijuana and seemed to recently misunderstand the legacy of the band Queen.
Even streak-holder Mattea stated after her run she wanted Ken to take over.
“As a contestant, there is something really special about being on stage with the greatest player of all time,” she told Vulture.
The duo began filling in for the legendary Alex 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 dipped that low this week.
The fact that the hosting slot is still undecided has been a huge point of discussion, as the late Alex had hosted since 1984.
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Mayim has, however, been front seat for rideshare driver Ryan Long’s ongoing 11-game streak – which Ken called a “hell of a run” on Twitter today.
Yet, as another fan tweeted comparing the actress and alum-on-the-lam, “Love Mayim but @KenJennings brings a Trebek vibe to #Jeopardy that is comforting and genuinely entertaining. Mayim brings performance, which feels inauthentic. Bring back Ken.”
