How Much ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Hosts Were Reportedly Paid

In the wake of longtime Jeopardy! Host Alex Trebek’s death, there have been a string of guest hosts. Trebek hosted the trivia game competition show for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until he died in 2020. The show tried out several hosts until landing on their final choices in 2021. Now, Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik are to share hosting duties on the show through the end of season 38. They were announced as permanent hosts in Sept. 2021 following the controversial exit of former executive producer Mike Richards amid his own sexual misconduct scandal. Richards also exited his job as the executive producer on another popular game competition show, Wheel of Fortune. But accordion to a recent report from The New York Post, guest hosts of Jeopardy! were paid a hefty salary. 

Per the US Senate financial disclosure filings, Dr. Oz, 61, was paid a salary of $269,000 for guest-hosting the game show. The money Dr. Oz earned from his hosting stint was donated to an unspecified charity. His earnings were disclosed due to him being a probable Republican US Senate candidate in the state of Pennsylavnia. It’s assumed that other guest hosts earned near or equal paydays. Other earnings of Dr. Oz noted in the report include his $2 million salary for The Dr. Oz Show which airs on Fox, and more than $7 million in ownership interest from Oz Media, his company. He also banked an estimated $330,000 in royalties from Columbia University for his role in creating the cardiovascular gadget MitraClip. 

Trebek died in Jan. 2021 after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 80-years-old. The beloved game show host first revealed his diagnosis in a video in March 2019, saying, “Just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Now, normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging. But I’m going to fight this. And I’m going to keep working. And with the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.”

Trebek underwent chemotherapy and a steep change in diet in order to combat the disease.. He continued to host Jeopardy! for the next 18 months despite his diagnosis.