Mattea Roach has already reached some historic earmarks on "Jeopardy!," including becoming the youngest super champion ever and the first Gen Z megachampion.
So while she’s only 23, she has earned the right to toss her 2 cents into the debate about who should be the new permanent host of the show.
When asked by Vulture who should be chosen host between Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik, Roach was quick to respond, “I would say Ken because of his history with the show,” the Canadian stated. “As a contestant, there’s something really special about being onstage with the greatest player of all time. Someone who understands in a very visceral way what it’s like to be in your position.”
Since the end of last year, both Jennings and Bialik have traded off hosting the show, while the producers decide which of the two – or even someone else – might replace the legendary Alex Trebek, who passed away in November, 2020.
Bolstering Jennings’ case is the fact he has been hosting more episodes. Bialik, between "Jeopardy!," her new FOX sitcom, “Call Me Kat,” and the recent release of her first directorial effort, “As They Made Us,” she’s mostly hosted special episodes of the nightly game show favorite.
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Then again, she has drummed up a fair amount of social media attention, if not always in positive ways.
“Mayim is fantastic,” said Roach, “but she doesn’t have that same experience.”
Roach herself has gained social media attention with her fun facial expressions and the fact that she often thinks out loud while trying to answer questions during the show, which she has previously chalked up to praying.
“I'm kind of muttering something a little bit," she recently said, "and what I was saying was Hail Marys actually. I went to Catholic high school and there was a giant image of Mary in the study hall where we would write all our exams. So I started to associate praying to Mary with, I guess, anything intellectual. I figured, you know, it certainly can't hurt."
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But a little added chirping seems to be becoming her signature tic. In fact some fans have speculated that she adds the talking bits in to distract the other opponents.
“The notion of my comments being distracting either to the viewers or the players, I was like, ‘Huh?’ You don’t have time to think about weird mind games,” she said. “I would never want to be deliberately distracting to another player because it’s so unsportsmanlike.”
As the New York Post reported, some fans have gone further to complain that her actions are more like normal viewers sitting at home talking to the TV, and that it’s too casual for a serious contestant.
But it might just be that kind of relatability that makes Roach notable – not to mention that, with 22 consecutive wins so far, she’s now the fifth-best player in history, and counting.
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For the dissenters of her style, Roach thinks it might be generational.
“Anytime you have a generational shift of new people coming of age,” she notes, “conversations happen about how they’re shifting professional norms. It’s not entirely negative…. But a critical conversation about how I present myself on the show alludes to the fact that the way I behave is somehow unprofessional or not respecting the institution.”
For Roach, it’s just the way she plays, and she’s having fun with her winning run.
“I remember saying to a friend, ‘I’m not going to court. I’m not going to a job interview. I’m going to a game show,'” she said. “Yes, it’s intellectual, and that’s one of the most special things about it. But I respected the institution by playing the game really well. I’m enjoying myself a lot and that’s why I played the game that way.”
In a funny retort to the complaints of her expressions last week, Roach retweeted a photo of herself winning a spelling bee when she was a younger child, with the caption, “Many have made note of my colorful facial expressions while playing Jeopardy - here is proof that I come by it honestly/have been making weird faces for a long time!”
While some might think Roach is taking a lighthearted approach to her gameplay, she’s proved with her winnings and attitude that her feet and mind are firmly planted. She’s now won $534,984 in prize money, which she says she will put toward paying off her student loans.
“I’m going to continue being really boring with money,” she said. “Most of it I’m going to sit on for a couple of years, and hopefully when I’m more settled in the longer term, I imagine it’ll help me buy a house.”
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