Few talk show hosts are subjected to more online hatred than Mayim Bialik. She has an impossible job: succeeding Alex Trebek while constantly being compared to fellow Jeopardy! host a Ken Jennings. She’s opening up about the abuse, and fans are starting to rally behind her.
Mayim Bialik Opens Up
On top of hosting Jeopardy!, producing and starring in Call Me Kat, producing and directing the film As They Made Us, and raising two children, Bialik is also a podcaster. On Bialik Breakdown, she welcomes friends and celebrities from Dustin Hoffman to her Big Bang Theory co-star Simon Helberg. Last week, she welcomed Dodgeball star Justin Long to the show.
A podcaster himself Long turned the tables on Bialik and asked her about her Jeopardy! job. He wondered aloud if anyone tells her that she’s better than Jennings. Bialik said, “Sometimes, and sometimes I get ‘We don’t prefer you to Ken.” Bialik and Long then discussed how strange Hollywood is when it comes to fan interaction. “Like ‘I saw you in magazine. I was very confused. You looked pretty.’ I get that a lot,” she said.
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Long chimed in with his own anecdote, “This sounds like I’m bragging but,” Justin started. “You’re better looking in person?!” This sentiment is so common that Bialik helped him finish that sentence.
Comments Are Split
The comments under the Instagram snippet are naturally split, but many folks are supporting Bialik. “Wow!!! The fact they don’t find that insulting, tells you cloth they’re cut from,” one commenter wrote. Another chose her as the ideal Jeopardy! host: “Is this the proper place to say I prefer you as Jeopardy host?”
On the other side, however, folks took the clip as yet another opportunity to trash Bialik. “Ask any teacher we are insulted DAILY by politicians, the media and ESPECIALLY PARENTS….and we don’t millions of dollars,” one critic writes. Another brought up a personal experience: “I remember meeting her in person, and it was the worst time I met a celebrity.”
Not An Easy Job
Whether you’re a fan of Bialik’s or not, there’s no denying that she faces an uphill battle. Jeopardy! fans are extremely quick to compare her to the legendary Trebek. Trebek never got trashed over what he was wearing. He was free to call the categories whatever he liked while Bialik’s verbiage is always under a microscope. At least she can laugh some of the hatred off.
