LeVar Burton Reveals His Wife’s Brutally Honest Reaction to His ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Hosting Stint

LeVar Burton has opened up about his Jeopardy! guest-hosting stint, and revealed his wife’s brutally honest reaction to his performance. Ahead of his first episode, the iconic star appeared on Good Morning America to talk about working on the legendary game show. During the conversation, Burton shared that his wife, make-up artist Stephanie Cozart Burton, was present for his tapings.

With Stephanie being able to see her husband’s work as interim host in real-time, he figured he would get her initial reaction. “I came back after taping the first episode and said, ‘So, how did I do?’” Clearly not one to mince words, Burton shared that his loving wife replied, ‘Ehhh. It wasn’t you.” The famed Star Trek: The Next Generation actor then went on to add, “Thank god for marrying a woman that will tell you the truth.”

Burton is part of a lengthy list of Jeopardy! guest hosts who were brought in to help with the current season, following the death of long-time host Alex Trebek. Speaking about the big shoes he and the others have been filling, Burton told GMA, “Of course, I realized right away that was an impossibility; the man had 37 years to perfect his mastery.” He then added, “So after I got the heads up from Steph, I just went out there and tried to bring as much LeVar to the moment as I possibly could, and I’m hoping that worked out better.”

Trebek died in November after having previously been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In an interview in May, Trebek’s wife, Jean, spoke candidly about his cancer battle and how hard he fought while maintaining a positive attitude. “His gift was that he could be very resolute and he knew that the truth will not hurt you,” she said. “And he wanted to, I think, empower people to move through whatever challenge they had in life with a sense of inner strength, inner dignity, and love.”

Jean went on to share that Trebek found strength in remaining the host of Jeopardy during his health battle. “Doing Jeopardy! really gave him a sense of purpose, a reason to wake up in the morning,” she explained. “And I would say we all need that. We all need a purpose.”