Actress Mayim Bialik, who scored the co-hosting job for “Jeopardy!” alongside Ken Jennings, explains that the audience has a lot of "opinions" when it comes to her attire.
In a chat with ET, she explained that male hosts, including Jennings and the late Alex Trebek, never experienced the same criticisms from the public over their fashion choices.
“Every detail, they're very invested,” the actress explained, adding, “I’m part of an also, like, an iconic thing that people have a lot of opinions about."
She continued: “And also, you know, I think it's OK to say there aren't a lot of females in this kind of position and so I think we're all learning, you know, the different ways we look at women or think about -- you know, it's not like it's rocket science. Like, this is all stuff that we've been reckoning with for thousands of years.”
“It's very interesting to me, you know, to say, ‘Well, gosh, what should I wear?’” Bialik noted. “Alex wore a different suit every single show but people didn't think about it that much because it was navy, or it was gray. Whereas I might wear colors sometimes, and you might recognize that jacket because we also have a budget.”
This isn’t the first time Bialik has offered this angle on the jibes she’s taken as host. She recently said similar things in an interview with Drew Barrymore where she explained she was called out on Twitter for re-wearing the same blazer.
Despite having gained acting notoriety via sitcom the hits “Blossom,” “Big Bang Theory,” and her newest, “Call Me Kat,” hosting “Jeopardy!” has brought her to a whole new level of recognition.
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"It’s changed my life in enormous ways,” Bialik explained. “You know, my recognizability and kind of familiarity that people feel with me is a lot more, especially with, like, a nightly show like that, when you’re on a show that’s always in people’s living rooms or wherever they choose to watch.”
“Jeopardy!” fans are notoriously intense about their nightly ritual, and some have bristled at some of Bialik’s moves, such as the way she was calling the opening round of the game "Single Jeopardy" instead of the traditional "the Jeopardy round."
Until a permanent host to replace the legendary Trebek is chosen, Bialik will continue to share duties with Jennings.
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But as she makes clear about the ultimate appeal and longevity of the show, “... it's not about what Mayim Bialik's wearing, it's about these contestants and, like, all the random, amazing things that they know.”
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