LeVar Burton is addressing some of the drama surrounding Jeopardy!, for which he appeared to briefly be considered as a host at one time, as well as hyping up Trivial Pursuit, a new game show coming to TV screens next year that he will be hosting and producing.
During a fan Q&A panel at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, Oregon, Burton was asked whether he felt jilted by Jeopardy!, which ultimately chose Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings as permanent co-hosts.
“Jeopardy! hired the hosts that they wanted so it’s all good,” Burton said. “And I invite you to stay tuned because in 2023 I’ll be coming out with a game show that I’ve partnered with Hasbro on with a little I.P. called Trivial Pursuit.”
Despite having many amicable things to say about his Jeopardy! experience, including that it represented fulfilling a lifelong dream when he guest-hosted, Burton also did not hesitate to throw shade at the producers for what he described as them not being “forthcoming.”
“I’ll always bet on myself and given the opportunity to do it all over again, I would. Well first I would not believe the executive producer when he told me twice that he was not interested in the job, his job was to find someone to do the job. That’s the guy who gave himself the job.”
Though Burton did not name-drop the individual outright, his description appears to match that of Mike Richards, the former Jeopardy! executive producer who later took up the job as host, despite having numerous guest hosts seemingly try out for the gig. Richards later stepped down from the role after just five episodes following resurfaced offensive comments he made, and concerns raised from past lawsuits related to wrongful termination and sexual harassment.
Burton described the experience of being a Jeopardy! guest host as generating a lot of headlines, and not exactly the tryout he was led to believe.
“So if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn’t trust him. But I would insist on knowing that this was a real audition for the job because that’s what I thought I was asking for.”
Looking back, Burton said he feels a little bit like he was “pulled into a publicity stunt.”
“But I went in willingly. I own my actions 100%, I just wish they had been more forthcoming at the beginning,” he added.
Despite the ups and downs entailed with finding a replacement for the incomparable Alex Trebek, the previous Jeopardy! host who passed away from cancer in 2020, Burton still has much reverence for being able to guest host at all, describing it as “one of the scariest things” he’s done.
“Hosting Jeopardy! was…it was the fulfillment of a long-held dream and it was scary as well. And I loved every moment of it.”
In terms of what fans can expect from Trivial Pursuit, Burton described it as something he’s “really proud of.”
“We’ve developed what I think is a really awesome game and I can’t wait to share it with ya’ll.”
