JEOPARDY! fans fumed after host Mayim Bialik made a “nasty comment” INSULTING a contestant’s profession.
She called first-timer Yian Chen “only” an anesthesiologist and “not a doctor” in banter that flatlined.
During the meet-and-greet portion of the April 1 gameshow episode, host Mayim dug into one player with less-than-impressive precision.
Contestant Yian, an anesthesiologist from Menlo Park, California, told a story about how he mastered a claw machine with his grandmother sweetly leading to “winning an iPod,” and eventually, becoming a doctor.
Mayim – hosting Season 38 when former contestant Ken Jennings isn’t filling in – responded:
“That’s pretty awesome, but you didn’t become a surgeon, just an anesthesiologist.”
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Then, seemingly trying to splice together the contestant’s story with his line of work she joked: “So you’re not fully digging into things.”
“No,” Yian responded with a respectful laugh as a blazer-clad Mayim concluded their exchange by doing a claw motion dismissively.
“Wait, was Mayim just putting anesthesiologists down?” one Twitter user wondered.
“What a nasty comment towards his line of work,” noted another.
“Condescension has repeatedly shown to be part of Mayim’s brand,” bashed a third.
“This seemed a bit insulting,” wrote another, sharing the clip.
“Not a surgeon, ‘just an anesthesiologist,’ said Mayim Bialik on #Jeopardy I’m sure she didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” a fourth defended.
“Mayim Bialik was putting anesthesiologists down on Jeopardy!” declared a fifth.
The average U.S. salary for an anesthesiologist is $405K per Salary.com
It’s the second-highest-paying job in the world on average, per Wealthy Gorilla.
‘I MISS KEN’
Another user summarized on Friday’s awkward show: “I miss Ken Jennings. He’s more relatable and down to earth than Mayim Bialik. Hope you’ll choose him as permanent host.”
Another wrote: I don’t dislike Mayim but I do dislike the pauses as she looks down at the answer. Ken is a #Jeopardy champion & the answers & flow of the show just come naturally to him.”
“Hey! Mayim said Jeopardy instead of ‘Single Jeopardy’!” another Twitter user wrote tonight.
The Big Bang Theory alum was slammed for the term earlier this month, per TODAY – which doesn’t exist in the game.
“I will never do it again,” she stated. “I’m doing my best.”
After the tragic death of longtime host Alex Trebek, who passed away from stage four pancreatic cancer on November 8, 2020, Ken and Mayim took over as presenters of the popular game show.
They stepped up to the joint role following a brief stint from Mike Richards.
Mike resigned after fans slammed him for his past “misogynistic” comments.
New episodes of the classic game show air weekdays at 7pm EST on ABC.
Previous seasons are available to stream on Netflix with a subscription, and Jeopardy’s 38th season will end on July 29, 2022.
The winner of Friday’s episode was Nell Klugman from Brooklyn, New York – her first win, unseating Evan Roberts.
