JEOPARDY! fans buzzed over a “hunky” new player on Thursday.
Mayim Bialik hosted as the contestant, who many said was a “love child” of two stars, shared a story about a major injury.
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Mayim, 46, is hosting Jeopardy! for the fifth week in a row, returning after alum Ken Jennings’ prior three weeks at the helm and announcement he’d be out for “months.”
The permanent hosting slot is still on the board and will be decided by the end of Season 38 in July 2022.
Three nights ago, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rideshare driver Ryan Long was driven off-course by weatherman Eric Ahasic.
The Minneapolis, Minnesota meteorologist won his fourth game tonight, storming the stage and impressing skeptics with $105K total – but another player scored points with the fans.
Wearing a grey suit with some stubble, teacher Sean McGrath came in with quite the Q&A story.
He explained he broke his foot at a friend’s wedding going all-out on the dancefloor; “So I take music literally, and Backstreet Boys came on and they said, Rock your Body, and I crushed my foot.”
“I had to crawl to the hospital… was in a boot for six weeks, and then I was back out on the dancefloor,” he explained as the crowd laughed in surprise.
And speaking of crushes, Twitter was suddenly fond of Sean.
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HOT FOR PLAYER
“There’s a hunk on Jeopardy,” one user gushed.
Another claimed, “Sean looks like Jude Law and Tom Hiddleston had a love child.”
A third wrote, “One of tonight’s #Jeopardy contestants is making me feel things…” sharing a photo of Sean.
A fourth simply got a ‘kick’ out of his story and wrote, “This guy on Jeopardy said he broke his foot dancing to ‘Everybody’ by the Backstreet Boys, lol My brand!”
“I hope someone saved a month on the Hot Men of Jeopardy calendar for Sean McGrath,” another hilariously wrote.
Appreciating an interesting first-timer is always on the board; last week fans lusted over a “sexy” player named Wyatt, and the week before a player a contestant went Twitter viral for their Sasquatch shirt.
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE
But back under the gameplay category, meteorologist and winner Eric impressed the fanbase tonight.
Last night, he landed on three Daily Doubles – rare in itself but got all three correct- and tonight he did it again.
Eric correctly responded to all three Daily Doubles he landed on in his second game running, resulting in a $32K win and $105K total in just four games with 25/2 correct responses tonight.
The player may have hurt fans when he drove past the beloved broad-shouldered braianic Ryan – whose wholesome run and backstory were nothing short of inspiring.
But he has a hugely impressive 91% accuracy rating so far compared to Ryan’s 88% – albeit that was after 16 wins.
One fan claimed about newcomer Eric, “True daily doubles like it’s nothing. He’s gonna go on a big run.”
Another wrote, “Imagine if he becomes another super champ even though Ryan Long wasn’t too far after Mattea Roach.“
But Mayim could not help but giggle with joy as Eric landed on the randomly placed special clues and kept going for a ‘True Daily Double’ – all of his points.
One fan tweeted, “Mayim is weirdly excited when Eric finds a Daily Double.”
Another reenacted Mayim’s mannerisms, “Eric: *finds the second daily double* Mayim: That’s the second daily double! Me: YES WE KNOW!!”
One more ripped: “Jeopardy needs to get Ken full-time or a new host overall for next season. Mayim is way too exaggeratedly happy. It’s become intolerable.”
Meteorologist Eric has a smiling sunny disposition, also sharing that he has a cat named Potato in an earlier Q&A – but he’s no joke when it comes to Culver City.
Eric told local station KARE that he tried out for the show for 15 years.
“I’ve been trying out since 2006. For the teen tournament, then the college tournament, then the regular show. It’s been a long process,” he said.
‘KEN HE COME BACK?’
Meanwhile, plenty of fans have found actress Mayim to be a perfectly palatable presence – especially as a front-seat passenger for Ryan’s Long’s sadly-ended streak.
However, she has had some conversational speed bumps, including an NSFW off-color adlib about marijuana use, joking, “Joint committee, get it?”
Mayim also seemed to misunderstand the legacy of the band Queen in a Q&A and has regularly replied to other contestants’ earnest Q&As with jokes if not blunt replies (no pun intended).
Ken and Mayim 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 fact that the hosting slot is still undecided has been a huge point of discussion, as the late Alex Trebek had hosted since 1984.
As another fan tweeted recently, “I actually like both Ken and Mayim, so that’s that, at least for me,” though one more replied that the 74-game and Greatest of All Time winner, given his resume, is still a “better fit for the show” between them.
All this comes as Ken surprisingly tweeted in May, “I’m handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months,” adding, “We are lucky to have her! I’ll be back before the end of the season.”
Host Ken promisingly revealed on a recent podcast episode he was doing more tapings of pre-recorded episodes this month, as many are leaning his way – while Mayim’s sitcom Call Me Kat was given the green light to tape and premiere in just months.
Canadian tutor Mattea Roach, Ryan, Amy Schneider, and Matt Amodio – all from this stunning season – will compete in the Tournament of Champions in November.
Eric will try to finish out the week with win number five tomorrow night, as “hunk” Sean will go back to dancing.
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