Mayim Bialik found herself defending her on-screen fashion choices when Jeopardy! fans on Twitter fell into a tizzy after noticing the host wearing an orange sweater blazer on the show for the second time. On the April 13 episode of E! News’ Daily Pop, the former The Big Bang Theory star said, “The story is I’ve worn everything more than once. But they are usually colors that are more like, you don’t think about them as much.”
“But if you wear a burnt sienna cardigan blazer—you’re going to wear it again,” Bialik continued. “That’s right. There is a budget, people, on Jeopardy!. I grew up with one bathroom till I was 15 and my brother was 19. We budget. We’re gonna wear it again. And I’ll wear it again!”
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Bialik added that even a simple change such as straightening her hair is significant enough to draw a great deal of attention. “Michael Anton’s in charge of the hair, and he’s like, ‘You do curls on Call Me Kat.’ He’s like, ‘We’re gonna blow it out. I was, like, ‘Fine, I look like a different kind of librarian, great!’” she joked.
She also addressed the controversy on The Drew Barrymore Show Monday, when Barrymore asked Bialik about people “freaking out on Twitter and Instagram and social media and every portal about your jacket.” The actress responded, “My mother actually mentioned this to me before it was anywhere else—maybe she started it. She said, ‘I noticed you didn’t wear a blazer and you wore a sweater.’”
“I will never wear that blazer again. That’s it. It’s done!” Bialik stated. During the interview, she noted that male hosts often repeat their outfits.”I mean, look, for men in these hosting positions, they also change clothes every episode, but they wear, like, a blue suit, a black suit, a gray suit, and they just change the ties. It’s less noticeable.”
The Blossom star took over hosting duties on Jeopardy! alongside Ken Jennings in 2021. Her hosting duties are expected to continue through the end of July 2022. Bialik told Today in May 2021 that she felt compelled to pay tribute and honor late host Alex Trebek’s legacy by dressing the same as he once did. “For me, I really just wanted to look like the academic that I was trained to be. And to me, that does mean a certain amount of formality and decorum,” she explained. “And also in great respect to Alex Trebek, the image I have of him is in a suit, it’s ‘blazered’ up.”
