In his eleventh hour, the new “Jeopardy!” host has found himself doing some serious damage control. Mike Richards is set to begin filming the long-running game show’s next season on Thursday, but revelations from an “offensive” podcast may hinder production. On August 18, The Ringer published a damning exposé on the television executive turned host’s former podcast, “The Randumb Show.” According to the publication, Richards “repeatedly used offensive language and disparaged women’s bodies” throughout episodes recorded between 2013 and 2014.
During one segment, he complained that swimsuits make women look “really frumpy and overweight,” that they “dress like a hooker” on Halloween and even called his co-host a “booth slut.” He also recounted a story about a former “The Price is Right” employee who had taken up baking: “We said that we were going to have to saw her out of her room because she was going to be so giant that she wouldn’t be able to fit out the door.”
Richards also reportedly referred to the disabled as the “R-Word” and used a derogatory term for little people. Meanwhile, he championed “the average white-guy host” in a bid to recognize he too could one day be a television presenter. “Jeff Probst had a daytime talk show, which I was cheering for because I like, you know, the average white-guy host,” he said. “I cheer for him to succeed because I feel like through his success I could have some success hosting.”