Actor Mayim Bialik, who alternates with all-time “Jeopardy!” champ Ken Jennings as interim host of that long-running quiz show, has no guesses as to who might eventually be named permanent host. But as the “Jeopardy!” National College Championship gets underway Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC, airing Tuesdays through Thursday at that time for two weeks, she reflected on her own tenure so far.
“I stopped reading comments because some people were, like, ‘She acts like she knows everything’ and other people were, like, ‘It’s clear she knows nothing.’ I’m like, well, it’s one or the other or somewhere in between,” the “Call Me Kat” star, 46, told Variety. “In terms of that, I try not to pay attention because people have such strong opinions about ‘Jeopardy.’ I’m female, and as much as men and women can and should do the same things, women are perceived differently. I really try to be a neutral presence as much as possible so that it is not an issue.”
The job’s steepest learning curve, she said, involves “speaking Jeopardese, as we call it,” describing it as “an acquired skill” that involves “not saying the same thing every time something is right, having each commercial break sound a little bit different.”
Equally difficult, she said, is “processing a lot of information in real time. When things go wrong, it’s hard because wrong can mean they have to reset the whole board. Wrong can be very time consuming. There’s a lot of pressure. It is a high pressure job that I do in heels.”
She has gotten “a tremendous amount” of helpful advice, Bialik said, from contestant liaisons John Barra and Corina “Coco” Nusu.
“They help me frame conversations with the contestants and help maintain morale,” she said. “I’m very hard on myself, and if I mess something up or if we have to redo something, I feel badly for the flow. But what Coco tells the contestants is, ‘If you make a mistake, shake it off.’ So that’s what I keep reminding myself.”
The least helpful advice she has received is “be yourself … but don’t do too much of this. Don’t do much of that. Don’t stand like that. Make sure you stand up straight. Don’t be too sexy. Don’t be not sexy.” Ultimately, “the only way to get practice is to actually do the shows. So I hope that I’m getting more natural, more smooth, [make fewer] stupid jokes — but I can’t guarantee that,” she added jocularly.
