‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Praise LeVar Burton’s Guest Hosting Debut: ‘He’s a Natural’

LeVar Burton in a promo for 'Jeopardy!' as guest host for the week of July 26, 2021. Credit: Jeopardy/YouTube

Jeopardy! fans were delighted to have LeVar Burton officially kick off his week of guest hosting on Monday night.

Fans have been pushing for the Roots actor and former Reading Rainbow host to permanently host the trivia show for some time now.

Related StoryLeVar Burton Fans Petition for Actor to Become New ‘Jeopardy!’ Host

Supporters shared their reactions on Twitter, including @Oze414 who tweeted, “@Jeopardy Make @levarburton permanent. He’s the best and we’re tired of the bad ones.”

@MatthewACherry added on Twitter, “We supporting @levarburton hosting @Jeopardy this week as a family right?”

@VilissaThompson tweeted: “@levarburton ’s enthusiastic ‘yes!’ excites me when the contestants get the answer right. He’s a natural at this.”

Burton made the media rounds before taking the podium this week, recently telling the New York Times, “It’s difficult to explain, but there’s something inside me that says this makes sense.”

“I feel like this is what I’m supposed to do. I have been watching Jeopardy! more or less every night of my life since Art Fleming was host. Jeopardy! is a cultural touchstone, and for a Black man to occupy that podium is significant,” he said.

Heading into his hosting debut, Burton tweeted Monday night, “West Coast — anyone else ’bout to watch @Jeopardy?” His Twitter profile picture has also been changed to a photo of him at the hosting podium for the show.

As previously reported, shortly after the show’s longtime host Alex Trebek passed away in November, a petition was started by the Star Trek actor’s fans to have him become the new host. So far over 258,000 signatures have been collected.

Despite all the attention, Burton’s hosting debut was overshadowed by contestant Patrick Pearce, who made headlines after ending the night with the lowest score ever in Jeopardy! history — negative $7,400. That broke the previous record low held by Stephanie Hull since 2015.

Jeopardy! has not named a permanent host among a rotating group of celebrity fill-ins that has included champion contestant Ken Jennings, Robin Roberts, Anderson Cooper and NFL star Aaron Rodgers.

Watch a promo for this week’s episodes below: