Who should replace Alex Trebek? Trebek hosted Jeopardy! for 36 years. The show and host are commonly grouped together. Many can remember Trebek’s voice and the iconic theme song. After Trebek’s death in November the fans of Jeopardy were heartbroken. The producers now must find a replacement that can carry on in Trebek’s legacy a pressing issue as the future success of the show hangs in the balance. With possible contenders, guest hosts and personal favorites we have compiled a list of those who might replace Trebek as the host of Jeopardy! Bolded names are those already selected to guest host in the 2021 season.

Trebek had acknowledged many acceptable replacements before his death, we took those into account as well as a statement that he would like his replacement to be a woman. Hosts were seeded randomly and were chosen by like-ability, stage presence experience and other determining factors. Some of the first round hosts that will not move on include Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Harvey, and Katie Couric. Dr. Mehmet Oz and Steve Harvey will not move as both are busy with current projects. Katie Couric will not move on even though she has already been chosen to guest host as she is currently a topic of controversy after making an “elitist” statement about Trump supporters. This is hard for producers as a portion of viewers are conservative and this could harm the success of the show.

For long term success it is best for the new host to already have a fan base that overlaps with current viewers of Jeopardy to bring in a different a larger demographic of viewers while keeping the integrity of the show and current traits that made it successful. Top Eight include: Jimmy Kimmel, James Holzhauer, Aaron Rodgers, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Bill Nye, Matthew Gray Gubler, Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik. Jimmy Kimmel, Aaron Rodgers Bill Nye and Mayim Bialik will move on to the next round as they already have a large fan base and or a sufficient amount of experience making them an entertaining host. Mayim Bialik swept out Ken Jennings as she has more experience, Jennings has had good ratings during his time as guest host but has be criticized for lacking stage presence.

With help from others, it was decided that Bill Nye should be the new host of Jeopardy! He has a lot of experience and a large fan base from “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and more recently “Bill Nye Saves the World.” Nye has good balance of seriousness  and comedic qualities. Nye can successfully keep viewers engaged while preserving the integrity of the show. Nye has a differing demographic of viewers and should attract younger fanbase to Jeopardy! which in the long term will make it more successful. For these reasons Bill Nye is the Jeopardy! March Madness Champion.