Who is Mike Richards is a question on many 'Jeopardy!' fans' minds, after news broke on Thursday that he is in 'deep negotiations' to become the new game show host, seemingly beating out former contestant Ken Jennings and fan-favorite LeVar Burton for the role.
Richards, 46, has served as the show's executive producer for since 2020, and was among the show's rotating cast of guest hosts after longtime 'Jeopardy!' king Alex Trebek died in November after a long-fought battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old.
According to Variety, which broke the news that Richards' is the front-runner for the hosting gig, Sony Pictures Television executives were impressed by his 'command of the fast-paced game and easy on-air manner' when he guest hosted in late February.
Discussions with other guest hosts were still ongoing, an unnamed source familiar with the negotiations reportedly told the outlet, but Richards is widely considered to be the front-runner.
Mike Richards, who works as the executive producer of Jeopardy!, is reportedly in talks to become the show's next host
That would mean he beat out fan-favorite LeVar Burton and former contestant Ken Jennings for the role
Fans of the show, though, do not seem to approve of the executives' choice, with many writing on Twitter that the role should have gone to former 'Reading Rainbow' host LeVar Burton instead.
One person replied to the news saying Jeopardy fans have been saying for months they wanted Burton to be the new host, as executives said they would try several different guest hosts and see which one the audience responded to, but decided to go with Richards instead.
Others brought up the fact that two women previously named Richards in harassment lawsuits, claiming he and his production company treated them poorly when they were working as models on The Price is Right.
Brandi Cochran sued his company, FremantleMedia North America and The Price is Right Productions in 2010 over claims producers sidelined and harassed her after she became pregnant.
Richards was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but Cochran alleged in it that he stopped talking to her as much after she became pregnant and implied that she would have been fired had the pregnancy not been a secret.
She claimed she was pressured to announce her pregnancy on air, and when she said she was carrying twins, she was given less work and was subjected to jokes about her weight gain from her co-workers.
Cochran revealed in the lawsuit that one of her twins died in a miscarriage, while the other was born three months premature.
She claimed she was still stressed about work after giving birth and felt pressured to lose the weight so she could return to her job, only to discover that she had been deleted from the show's website.
Cochran was initially awarded more than $8 million in compensatory and punitive damages, which was later overturned, as she settled with the company.
Lanishia Cole, meanwhile, sued Richards and fellow producer Adam Sandler - not the actor - as well as FremantleMedia North America in 2011, for wrongful termination and sexual harassment.
She alleged that the producers berated her in front of her peers, and claimed Richards began ignoring her and favoring another model he was in a relationship with in 2009.
Cole claimed Richards hindered her modeling career by creating policies 'which never before existed,' according to the Los Angeles Times.
'This case is about senior-level men in the entertainment industry exploiting power and control over women by bullying and harassing female talent,' Cole told the Times.
The lawsuit was settled in 2013, and Richards, who dismissed any wrongdoing, was dismissed as a defendant before the settlement was reached.
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