Jeopardy! fans are CONVINCED show alum will return to host after he shares cryptic tweet about an ‘unannounced project’
Jeopardy! fans are CONVINCED a major alum could return to host.
Amid Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings’ battle for the gameshow gig, Buzzy Cohen cryptically tweeted he was taping an “unannounced project.”
Actress Mayim Bialik, 46, is hosting Jeopardy! after Ken’s recent stint and announcement he’d be out for “months.”
“I’m handing the keys back to the talented actor-producer-writer-director (!) Mayim Bialik for a few months,” the fan-favorite surprisingly tweeted in May, adding, “We are lucky to have her! I’ll be back before the end of the season.”
The permanent hosting slot is said to be decided by the end of Season 38 in July 2022.
But another fan favorite could be tapped for more than he’s letting on.
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Last week, famous nine-game winner Buzzy implied he was hosting next year’s Celebrity Jeopardy.
A fan account dedicated to the game show tweeted: “100% prepared to be wrong but still not totally believing that the Mayim-hosts-primetime-Jeopardy thing is still here.”
Fueling the speculation, Buzzy replied with a gif of Yoda saying, “No, there is another.”
Jeopardy! lovers buzzed over Buzzy’s news, thinking he could host the primetime spinoff – before he since wildly tweeted once more.
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On Saturday, the sartorialist star – currently a Chaser on ABC’s The Chase – ‘Daily’-doubled down on his potential involvement.
He tweeted, “Shout out to the camera guys on [as yet unannounced project] for convincing me to get a picopresso from @wacaco_ltd – cannot wait to get this thing going!!!”
Followers were flustered over what the “unannounced project” could be, one day earlier he tweeted he was still in Los Angeles.
WHAT IS: HE ‘TAPING?’
One Twitter user commented on the update, “What ARE you up to Buzzy? Just watched my DVR’d Chase & you’re once again noticeably absent. Hmm…”
Another wrote, “a lot to unpack here,” as a third commented, “I KNEW IT.”
Prolific Twitter user OneEclecticMom, who steadfastly recaps every contestant’s fashion and who Jeopardy! has written about, seemed to know something too.
“Ooh, [as yet unannounced project] is my FAVE. Can’t wait for more, uh, episodes… or um, seasons?” she wildly replied.
The “project” – one devotee’s “fave” – could indeed possibly be hosting (or co-hosting) regularly airing Jeopardy!.
BUZZING ABOUT BUZZY
Buzzy is a former champ who appeared in April and May 2016.
To this day, fans tweet #hirebuzzy alongside their takes, loving the bespectacled brainiac since he appeared on the show
He was even known as “Mr. Personality” by the late, great Alex Trebek.
At the end of his run, he took home $164,603.
He came back to Jeopardy! for the 2017 Tournament of Champions, where he won the grand prize of $250,000.
He then went on to appear in the Jeopardy! All-Star Games relay tournament in 2019.
In 2021, Buzzy hosted the Tournament of Champions, leading fans to beg for Jeopardy! to make him a permanent host.
Instead, that gig is currently being fought for by Mayim and Ken.
Last month, an ABC executive dropped a hint that Mayim would still take on the Celebrity Jeopardy role.
The network announced Celeb Jeopardy! during the reveal of its Fall 2022-2023 schedule, but in the reveal, according to Variety, ABC added: “A host will be announced at a later date.”
The President of ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, Craig Erwich, teased that he “wouldn’t read anything into” this note about the emcee not yet being shared.
Despite her name being left out of the announcement, Mayim will likely be tapped for the gig, as she was previously revealed to be working on Jeopardy! spinoffs.
When asked if this means fans should not assume Mayim won’t host just because her name was missing, he simply replied: “Correct.”
This would make Buzzy a co-host if that’s even what he’s taping.
BACK IN THE HOST BATTLE?
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.
Buzzy never got a chance at guesting the syndicated program.
The fact that the hosting slot is still undecided has been a huge point of discussion, as the late Alex 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.
Streak-holder Mattea Roach stated after her run she wanted Ken to take over between the final two.
But Ken seems all-too-aware that many fans love Buzzy more than him.
Last month, he Twitter-taunted the alum by egging his followers to make him get a buzzcut.
“Should I shave my head?” Buzzy asked his 42K followers.
The options were “Yes,’ ‘No,’ ‘Big Yes,’ or ‘Big No.'”
Regardless, the poll’s results weren’t cutting it with a slightly jealous Ken, so to speak, who put his weight behind Buzzy buzzing it off.
Ken tweeted just 10 minutes later, “‘Big No’ is way ahead right now, but if we successfully brigade this poll, Buzzy Cohen legally has to shave his head. Fly monkeys!”
Seemingly quoting The Wizard of Oz, “Big Yes” magically was head-and-shoulders ahead with 43%.
The joke would be innocuous if Ken hadn’t stated on his podcast Ombibus that Jeopardy! requires its hosts to maintain a certain hair length for taping.
“It’s very short right now, but this is calculated,” Ken said on his show last month. “I need to be on TV in exactly three weeks.”
Stating he was taping more himself (making the Ken-Buzzy combo a possibility too) he added, “I have to have it the exact right length.
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“But a month thereafter, I’m going to be on… I’ve got to do Jeopardy! again, but they will trim it that day.”
“So then I can get back down. There’s a lot of math that goes into this.”
