Jeopardy! icon Pam Mueller rips show's hosting decision & calls out the glaring issue with Ken |

JEOPARDY! icon Pam Mueller has called out one glaring issue with both Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik being named host.

An all-time game show great, she disagreed with the dual-host decision and revealed how it should have gone - along with some buzz-worthy secrets.

Jeopardy!'s brand new season premiered on September 12th and 74-time G.O.A.T-turned host Ken, 48, is on screen until January.

As Season 38 wrapped and before the now-airing Season 39, he and actress Mayim Bialik were officially announced as the permanent replacements for the late, great Alex Trebek.

However, another legend who knows Ken quite well - as well as Alex - thinks the show didn't have the correct response.

Pam, who has won $215K total and participated in the 2019 team-based All-Stars tournament with other all-time elites - exclusively told The U.S. Sun she was split on the split-hosting aspect.

'I DON'T THINK 2 HOSTS MAKES SENSE'

Pam revealed that it should have just been alum Ken chosen - at least for the regularly airing show.

“I don’t think two hosts makes sense," the red-headed near-royalty contestant said on Saturday at the 600-person trivia-teeming Sporcle Con in Washington D.C.

"Ken should do the syndicated show and Mayim the prime time tentpoles.

"It will be interesting to see how the host duties are split, but that would have been more straightforward and made more sense."

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Pam - who got to see many of her longtime friends and former on-stage foes this weekend - added: “Maybe they wanted a bigger star."

Actress Mayim is hosting Celebrity Jeopardy! every weeknight starting last Sunday on ABC.

"I don’t know why they did it that way. If they had just split it, it would have been easier to present."

Pam also revealed other "champion guest hosts" including herself were interested - who wouldn't be - but hinted execs weren't.

They wanted to "keep eligibility open" so alums like she and Brad Rutter (one of the top 3 winners of all time) could "play more" since hosts technically can't compete.

“I did hear that about somebody else [who was interested]” she said.

She also added that her longtime peer Ken was feeling the pressure when he began: “Ken was super stressed out after Alex’s passing and when he started," but she thinks he's doing a great job.

"Obviously, they want people who are recognizable and have good personality."

"If they'd asked, I would have done it - it's harder than it looks," she added.

'DISASTER LOGISTICALLY'

Pam was a student at Loyola University when she won the Jeopardy! College Championship in 2000 (scoring a Volvo) and was a semi-finalist in the 2001 Tournament of Champions.

Her game show glory led to her being tapped for the 2019 All-Star Games - the first and so far last team-based tournament - coming in third, and splitting $100K with teammates Colby Burnett and Alan Lin.

Out of six teams, she lost to Team Ken and Team Brad - his team winning $1M in the special two-week showdown all under the late presenter.

Pam dished that the team format was a "disaster logistically."

The groups of three players each were hand-picked by a team captian, which is how Pam ended up playing - and she beat Team Buzzy Cohen, Team Julia Collins, and team Austin Rogers.

The structure seemed to thrill Alex but it was certainly a production, since the players alternated on stage round by round.

"Splitting up the game and having three different players play three different rounds was messy."

“We changed clothes so many times, I was glad to get to wear all the dresses I brought," Pam added - she donned some terrific question mark and exclamation point earings when we spoke.

"It was kind of crazy, we couldnt have the same person [from our team] play Final Jeopardy! twice."

"Even just trying to explain it to people" she said, in retrospect, "is chaotic."

TEAM ALEX

But Pam is so glad she got to play in one of Alex's last major events and she presented him with a gift - a photobook of memories he seemed to love.

She also went to the estate sale of the late host - who so gracefully helmed the show from 1984 until 2020 - and said Ken asked her to pick up "Alex's USO jacket."

Since Ken lived abroad growing up it "meant a lot to him to have it."

But she implied looking back is less complicated than looking forward.

'WE'LL SEE'

On the new Second Chance Tournament airing in October, she said: "I think a lot of the ones who made the most news ended up in it, like the person who wrote most of the answer."

“[Executive producer since 2021] Mike Davies has a lot of ideas, we’ll see. How to expand the canon is an ongoing discussion."

During the reunion weekend in Washington, D.C. - which The U.S. Sun attended - Pam also joked the show is "looking for more viral moments."

TWO IS BETTER THAN NONE

Ken and Mayim began regularly filling in for the legendary Alex in 2021 after his tragic 2020 passing at age 80 and a whirlwind of Season 37 celebrity guest hosts.

They included Savannah Guthrie, fan-favorite LeVar Burton, Dr. Oz, Aaron Rodgers, Anderson Cooper, and many more who each scored a week or so at it.

The search also landed on former executive producer Mike Richards who scored the host gig from the inside before the shocking decision was "reversed" a week later when his misogynistic comments were unearthed.

When Richards was ousted as both host and EP, he was replaced by Davies who is implimenting many of the show's new ideas like the "run a category" bonus.

Jeopardy! icon Pam Mueller rips show's hosting decision & calls out the glaring issue with Ken

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