After an extremely fraught summer off that saw the show select and then jettison a new full-time host amid wave after wave of controversy, Jeopardy! returns on Monday with new episodes and the start of a new season.
The kickoff to Season 38, though, comes with a number of unanswered questions that span well beyond the categories on the board. But one thing fans can expect to see on Monday is the return of Matt Amodio. The impressive champion carried over after 18 wins and $574,801 in winnings and is on pace for some record-breaking numbers if he can keep on winning. But his run actually carried into a wild summer for the show that may make his attempt at show history very complicated.
Amodio returned to the program coinciding with the appointment of Mike Richards as the new Jeopardy! host. But Richards taped just a single day as the official replacement for the late Alex Trebek before controversy over several instances of inappropriate behavior and fan outrage made him resign in shame. He also later left the show as an executive producer as well. Those five episodes, if Amodio managed to win them all, would represent the entirety of Richards’ run on the show before taping was canceled as the show scrambled to find a replacement host.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the show handles the appearance of Richards, and how Amodio handles the abrupt shift in the show’s host if he kept on winning. So much of playing Jeopardy! is comfort and familiarity with the host and the pace of the show, including the cadence of the host giving answers to contestants. It’s unfortunate Amodio has gotten caught up in all this, quite frankly, but if he intends to make history he’ll have to outlast Richards and potentially other guest hosts, too.
