‘Humiliated’ LeVar Burton drops ‘Jeopardy!’ host bombshell: ‘The fix was in’
nypost.com“Jeopardy!” hosting gig.The “Roots” star, 65, sat down with Newsy’s “In The Loop” show to chew over losing the bid to permanently host the talk show, noting he was “not just disappointed, but wrecked”Following longtime host Alex Trebek’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2020, a slew of possible stars were thrown into the mix to take over, including Ken Jennings, Mike Richards and Mayim Bialik.“Experiencing a very public defeat — humiliation, if you will — was sobering.
And what I learned from the experience, really, is that it reinforced my belief that everything happens for a reason, even if you cannot discern the reason in the moment,” Burton explained to host Christian Bryant.While Burton desperately wanted to be the ultimate face of the trivia show, he was at least able to guest-host an episode in 2021.“In the fullness of time, everything will be revealed.
And like I said, it was I think in that first week of feeling really sort of not just disappointed, but wrecked,” the “Reading Rainbow” host continued. “I didn’t expect that I would not be their choice for host.”However, Burton isn’t giving up hope for further emceeing opportunities.
He recently scored the job of hosting the Scripps Spelling Bee and both creating and hosting a new game show based on Hasbro’s famed “Trivial Pursuit.”“The doors have been opened.
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