‘Jeopardy!’ Latest Reported Guest Host Reveal Is Divisive and May Be Permanent

Fox Sports commentator Joe Buck is reportedly going to be host episodes of Jeopardy! this summer. Buck will also be “in contention” for the permanent position, sources told the New York Post. Sony Pictures Television, which produces Jeopardy!, has not announced who will host the show after CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finishes his run in the summer.

All guest hosts have only hosted the show for two weeks, and Buck’s episodes will air in the mid-summer, according to the Post‘s sources. The tryout is not expected to conflict with Buck’s schedule as an MLB and NFL commentator for Fox Sports. If the episodes are filmed this summer, it will be long before the 2021 NFL season starts in September.

Buck, 51, has been calling the World Series since 1996 and NFL games for Fox since 1994. As part of Fox’s top NFL broadcasting team, he is usually joined by Troy Aikman and often calls the Super Bowl when Fox broadcasts the championship. Buck is a divisive figure among sports fans, who often criticize his performance. However, Fox has shown no interest in moving away from him, and he even received the 2020 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the same award his father Jack Buck won in 1996.

In a recent interview with the New York Post, Buck said the one criticism that drives him crazy is the idea that he doesn’t like the New York Yankees and that he’s biased against some teams. “…Both fan bases think you’re rooting against them when you’re loud for the other team which they don’t hear all year from their hometown announcers,” Buck said in January. “That drives me crazy. I don’t care who wins, I just want to see a great game or a long series in the case of baseball.”

Jeopardy! has been going through a collection of guest hosts since January, following the death of Alex Trebek last fall. Former Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings hosted first, followed by executive producer Mike Richards, journalist Katie Couric, TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s run begins on Monday and continues through April 30.

60 Minutes journalist Bill Whitaker will host from May 3 to May 14. Actress Mayim Bialik will host from May 31 to June 11, and Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie will take the hosting job from June 14 to June 25. Gupta will follow Guthrie, although his exact dates have not been announced. Jeopardy! producers still have not picked LeVar Burton, despite everyone’s wishes that they do.