'Jeopardy!' Hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik to Face off on Another Beloved Game Show
Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings never appear on the Jeopardy! stage at the same time, but they will be on stage to compete in a different game show. The two will compete against each other in a special episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. The third contestant in the episode will be none other than Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White.
The special "Battle of the Hosts" Celebrity Wheel of Fortune episode will air on Wednesday, May 10 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. It will air during the same week as the highly anticipated Jeopardy! Masters primetime tournament, which begins on Monday, May 8. This is the first time White will be "calling letters instead of revealing them," according to ABC.
All three hosts are playing for the charity of their choice. White is hoping to come away with a victory for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, while Bialik will donate her winnings to the Mental Health Alliance. Jennings is playing for the Equal Justice Initiative.
ABC announced the special episode while setting the premiere date for The Game Show Show, a four-part series celebrating the best game shows in television history. The series debuts on May 10 after Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. The Game Show Show will air weekly on Wednesdays through the rest of May and early June.
Wheel and Jeopardy! have been inseparable for decades. Both shows are produced by Sony Pictures Television and usually air back-to-back in most markets across the country. In 1997, the late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek even hosted Wheel for a hilarious April Fools' Day joke. Trebek hosted an episode in 1980 when covering for Chuck Wooley and in 1985 for Pat Sajak.
In other Jeopardy! news, former champion Buzzy Cohen's new podcast, This is Jeopardy!... The Story of America's Favorite Quiz Show, premieres on Wednesday. The podcast tracks the creation of the show and how it become one of the most-watched game shows in the country.
"I think one of the things that is really exciting and interesting for people is 'How did Jeopardy! become this institution, beyond a pop culture phenomenon?" Cohen told PopCulture.com earlier this week. "It is something that is – generation to generation – part of people's lives ... We really go back and we look at some major inflection points. We tell stories that people haven't heard before."