Michael G. Richards {known professionally as Mike Richards} (born July 5, 1975) is an American television producer, game show host and television personality. Mike became executive producer of the American television game show Jeopardy! in 2020. He initially succeeded the late Alex Trebek as host of the daily syndicated version of the show but later resigned after offensive comments he made in the past became public.
Career[]
Mike was the second host of Beauty and the Geek and produced numerous game shows including The Weakest Link. He later hosted season of High School Reunion.
Until the end of the 2018-19 season, Mike was the executive producer of both The Price is Right and Let's Make a Deal. He was a candidate to host Price before Drew Carey was chosen. In interviews of those two shows, Mike was described as "exclusionary and dismissive of longtime show employees". He often neglected Deal to the point where one post-producer jokingly reintroduced themself at a meeting; they were soon fired. Mike hosted GSN's 2012 revival of The Pyramid and the network's 2017-18 version of Divided.
During this period, Mike hosted a podcast The Randumb Show promoted as a look at the production of Price. Mike "repeatedly used offensive language and disparaged women's bodies" according to reporting by The Ringer's Claire McNear and the Anti-Defamation League criticized Mike's disparaging stereotyping of women, Jews and Asians on the podcast. Asked for comment in 2021, Richards apologized for the material and took the podcast offline.
Wrongful Termination Lawsuit[]
Mike was the subject of a wrongful lawsuit in 2010. Brandi Sherwood-Cochran a former model of The Price is Right alleged that CBS Television and FremantleMedia discriminated against her by firing her after she became pregnant with twins. The Hollywood Reporter stated that Mike made a disparaging comment about her pregnancy at a 2008 party and that he claimed that she was fired from the show because he thought that she "would not take us to great".
At Sony Pictures Television[]
Mike left both Divided and The Pyramid in 2019 and joined Sony Pictures Television where he was assigned to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? as an executive producer alongside host Jimmy Kimmel and Michael Davies for the nine-episode first season of the show during the 2019-20 season. For the 2020-21 season, Mike succeeded the retiring Harry Friedman as executive producer of both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!.
After former Jeopardy! host the late Alex Trebek died in 2020, Mike appeared at the start of the November 9, 2020 episode to pay tribute to him. He later filled in for two weeks as a guest host of the show with his first episode airing on February 22, 2021. On August 4, 2021, it was reported that Mike had entered "advanced negotiations" to become the permanent host, though with other candidates still in contention. After that announcement, lawsuits filed against Mike during his tenure as an executive producer on The Price is Right resurfaced causing controversy. On August 11, 2021, it was announced that Mike would succeed Alex as host of the daily show with Jeopardy! guest host Mayim Bialik hosting future primetime specials and spinoffs. But on August 20 it was announced that he would step down after offensive comments he had made in the past emerged. The five episodes Mike filmed the previous day, the show's first day of production on the new season are still expected to air in September 2021.
Personal Life[]
Mike was born in Burbank, California and attended Pepperdine University. He and his wife Stephanie have two sons.
Audition Tape[]
