Ex-‘Jeopardy!’ host Mike Richards: Alex Trebek was in so ‘much pain’ before death
Former “Jeopardy!” producer Mike Richards, who lasted exactly one day on the job as the show’s host, opened up about being fired — and about the strength of cancer-stricken Alex Trebek.
Richards, 48, replaced Trebek in August 2021, nine months after Trebek died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. He resigned after one show when Ringer.com published an article about Richards, which referenced disparaging comments he made about marginalized communities while hosting “The Randumb Show” in 2014.
Richards, in a wide-ranging exclusive interview in People, recalled both his axing from “Jeopardy!” and Trebek, who kept on working despite being ill from his treatment for Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“I don’t think I will never see anything like it again,” he said of Trebek’s strength in carrying on with his “Jeopardy!” hosting duties in spite of his illness.
“I’ve never seen someone in that much pain or that ill in my life, let alone going out and pitching five perfect games a day,” he told People.
Trebek passed away in November 2020, leaving a huge gap on “Jeopardy!” — though his successor was never talked about behind-the-scenes, said Richards, who was the producer on the long-running, iconic show, having replaced veteran Harry Friedman in 2020.
“We never discussed how to replace Alex once we knew he was sick,” Richards said. “A conversation like that would have been so disrespectful.
“But we had talked about people coming in and guest-hosting if Alex got too sick,” he told People, “but we always knew Alex [would] come back until the day he decided he couldn’t.”
Trebek continued to host “Jeopardy!” for months until he retired to spend time with his family amidst his cancer battle.
“I actually thought we should just name a new host,” Richards told People. “But when Alex passed away, it was hard on everyone. ‘Jeopardy!’ fans, the country … there was a whole staff of people where he was the only boss they’ve ever known.
“He had a place in everyone’s heart, and while we all knew he was ill, his passing was very sudden, if that makes sense. It seemed to happen quickly. We were all legitimately in mourning.”
Richards said a company specializing in focus groups was hired to help decide who would succeed Trebek as a rotating roster of celebrities — including Robin Roberts, Katie Couric, Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings and Aaron Rodgers — guest-hosted the show, though Richards said he thought Jennings was the automatic answer (that would come to fruition, eventually).
Richards, who had previously hosted reality show “Beauty & the Geek,” “Million Dollar Pyramid” and “Divided,” said he name was also thrown into the ring to host “Jeopardy!”
The focus group participants liked Richards — but he couldn’t believe it when he was offered the job, he told People.
“No one was more surprised than me,” he said. “They told me, ‘We’d like you to be the host of the syndicated version of ‘Jeopardy!’ I paused, and said, ‘Oh wow. Thank you. What’s the media plan?’
“Because I was very concerned that this was going to be scrutinized as closely as a presidential election. There was widespread belief that whoever got the job first wouldn’t make it.”
He also said people just assumed he named himself host because he was the show’s producer.
“Everyone was so angry because it looked like I had gone into a room and picked myself,” he said. “And that’s not what happens in television, but I understood that that’s what the outward appearances were.”
Richard hosted his first and only show when the anti-defamation league was called in to investigate him after the Ringer.com article was published.
Richards publicly apologized for “a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness and insensitivity” but the damage was done.
It also came to light that, while he was executive-producing “The Price Is Right,” he was named in former wrongful termination and discrimination lawsuits filed by the show’s models.
Richards said that, once the ax dropped on him at “Jeopardy!” he felt hatred for himself and his family from a segment of the public — “it was quite a firestorm,” he said — even though much of what was written about him wasn’t accurate or was taken out of context.
“But by then everyone was like, ‘Oh he’s just a horrible person,'” he told People. “It was the price you pay for getting thrust into the zeitgeist in a very inopportune moment.
“Why I am talking now is that I feel like I can be a force for good as far as having open, honest conversations,” he went on. “We can all disagree about a lot of things. We can disagree about politics, we can disagree about who hosts ‘Jeopardy!’ We can disagree about liking a final ‘Jeopardy!’ clue. And we should.
“But I felt like there was a this rush to judgment, and a lot of people got joy in saying, ‘I got you.'”
