LeVar Burton To Guest Host ‘Jeopardy!’

After actively campaigning for a spot, LeVar Burton has got his wish: the actor and former Star Trek: The Next Generation star has been named as one of the upcoming guest hosts for the brainy game show Jeopardy!

This former Star Trek actor will be guest-hosting Jeopardy!

The venerable gameshow Jeopardy! has featured a series of guest hosts since the passing of longtime host Alex Trebek in late 2020. And today the list of the five guest hosts for the rest of the season was announced, and it includes LeVar Burton.

Burton quickly took to Twitter to express his thanks to everyone who has supported his dream of hosting Jeopardy!.

“Our goal has been to present a wide variety of guest hosts with different skill sets and backgrounds on our path to finding a permanent host,” executive producer and one-time guest host Mike Richards said in a statement. “Our passionate fans are telling us what they like, and we are listening. All of the guest hosts have brought individualism, energy and an authentic love of our show to each of their episodes. We look forward to sharing the rest of the season with our viewers.”

Who is LeVar Burton?

Burton has made no secret of his desire for the chance at the Jeopardy! podium, including promoting a fan petition campaign, doing media interviews, and amplifying the support he was getting from some celebrities. In 2020 before Trebek’s passing he tweeted out “Not gonna lie, I feel like I’ve been preparing my whole life to occupy the Jeopardy! host podium when Alex retires.”

LeVar Burton has earned 13 Emmy Awards over his lifetime, along with a Peabody Award and a Grammy Award. He is known to a whole generation as the host of the PBS series Reading Rainbow. He also hosts his own podcast, LeVar Burton Reads. He is even a Jeopardy! veteran. In 1995 he was a contestant on a celebrity edition of Jeopardy! and he won.

Burton’s stint as guest host will run from July 26, to July 30, 2021, following Robin Roberts and preceding David Faber.

There is no timetable for when a permanent guest host will be announced, but surely Burton will be ready for the call.

Promo image for LeVar Burton Reads


Keep up with the Star Trek celebrity news at TrekMovie.com.

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I am rooting for LeVar Burton. I expect that he would be a perfect Jeopardy host.

YES!!!

Finally…saving the best guest host ’till last.

That is fantastic!!! He will be a great host, all the best to him!!! Congrats!!

Very happy news! He would be the perfect permanent host.

This gives me all the feels. Congratulations LeVar! I know you will bring your A game to the podium.

I’ll have to be honest here, gameshows aren’t really my thing and so I’m actually not really familiar with Jeopardy! This opportunity seems to be something that Levar Burton really wants though, so good luck to him. Hope it works out well.

*LeVar

LeVar has a great blend of charm and professionalism about him… he’ll make a great emcee for “Jeopardy!” and bring something new to the table while preserving the legacy Alex Trebek established for the show. qa’pla, LeVar!

Fantastic! I was really hoping for this!

Not to nitpick, but it would be nice if a Jeopardy host wannabee could write a grammatically correct sentence on Twitter.

Does anybody write grammatically correct sentences on Twitter? I’m just impressed that all the words are spelled correctly.

Legate Damar, as Homer Simpson would say, “oooh, he talk good!” :>)

This was a well crafted tweet with a number of deliberate choices. The goal of public communication is not to 100% replicate any given grammar style guide, but to convey meaning and tone clearly and succinctly.

Policing other people’s language makes you sound out of touch at best and racist at worst, so my advice would be: Don’t. Do. That.

^^^Note the deliberate choice to break a grammatical norm to underscore my point.

You apparently don’t read his tweets with any regularity.

LCDR Trev, that would seem to imply that LeVar Burton makes a habit of composing sloppy, incoherent rants on Twitter. That doesn’t indicate a sophisticated well-spoken host for Jeopardy.

Apart from the extra “you,” I don’t see any major grammatical errors there.

That a majority of his posts are quite the opposite would suggest any tweets matching the description you’ve provided are intentional. So maybe think before you post. Just a suggestion.

Not to nitpick, but wannabe is spelled with only one letter e.

D’OH!!

If I recall correctly, on READING RAINBOW, Levar pulled out his earliest literary work, a peom (sic). So as a peot (sic), I believe we expect him to stretch and break grammatical rules.

Look guys, no big deal. I like LeVar Burton. I was just teasing/joking. Sheesh!

LeVar needs viewers! Viewers = strong ratings! Ratings = Permanent host role!

MAKE. IT. SO.

Watch when LeVar is on!!

This is great news. :)

Yay!

Hopefully, this one won’t get shut down… *looks at Anthony* lol…

For $400, “A Star Trek Legend and all round nice chap.”

“Who is LeVar Burton?”

It’s about damn time!

Yea, selfish of that other fella to not die a bit sooner.

??? What a truly bizarre take

I’m a Ken Jenning fan all the way, partly for sentimental reasons. But, honestly, LeVar Burton has all the personality, relatability, and sense of wonder and intelligence that would likely make him the genuinely perfect host for this show

I think it will come down to Jennings vs Burton. None of the other guest hosts have quite that name recognition to viewers. It’ll be a tough choice.

Me too, but Ken has a nice gig as an opposing player on THE CHASE where he shows his strengths as a player far outstrip his hosting skills.

I hope he’s the permanent host.
I recall hearing or reading about how almost ONE-THIRD of the US population watches Jeopardy every night. (At some point during its run. I’m not sure if those ratings hold up today) If his Reading Rainbow viewers, now grown up, view in? Could be a good fit, demographics wise and business wise. I’ll watch a show or two. Just not a game show viewer, regularly.

Jeopardy’s ratings are mostly kept afloat by a very old demographic, 65 years is the average, which I guess is down from 70 in 2000

George Stephanopoulos? Oh brother.

Y’know, I have to admit LeVar was made for this.

Some news personalities might be a good fit, it’s smart for them to try that, but IMO so far it was Mike Richards who had the complete package as a guest host. That annoys me to no end because there are major shades of Andy Cohen in the idea that the show’s EP would worm his way into becoming the on-camera star. So I’m rooting for LeVar as hard as I can!

I am rooting for him all the way. You got this LeVar!

Congratulations, Looking forward to seeing LeVar Burton in action as Jeopardy host.

As a big Jeopardy fan, I am very excited for this. LeVar Burton is the perfect host. I really hope he gets the permanent job!

Make it so!

He’d make a fantastic host. I’m definitely gonna check out his episodes.

At last, some real Star Trek news.