Mayim Bialik Claims She Wouldn’t “Do Well” As A Contestant On ‘Jeopardy!’: “I Would Cry, I Think”

Mayim Bialik might have experience dishing out clues on Jeopardy!, but she is not so sure she would succeed on the other side of the podium.

Speaking to Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast, The Big Bang Theory actress brought up a question she often gets asked after co-hosting the trivia show alongside Ken Jennings.

“People are like, ‘Do you know all that stuff?’ And I’m like, ‘No,’” Bialik shared. “It’s actually not my job. I have to pronounce it.”

While the two jokingly came to the conclusion that “Jeopardy! is for people who still want to know things,” — which Bialik quipped “should be their new ad campaign” — Maher pondered if Bialik would succeed as a contestant.

“Even if you don’t know the answers,” Maher said. “Of course you don’t know all the answers. Well, I guess you do.”

“I just have them in front of me,” Bialik refuted.

“Right, but you would do well,” Maher continued, to which Bialik disagreed.

“First of all, answering things like that under pressure and with a timer, it’s not going to happen for me,” she explained.

She also described a particular “rhythm that winners get into,” which contributes to their success.

“There’s a huge psychological component of being psyched out and if you get something wrong, it can feel really debilitating,” she noted. “I would cry, I think.”

She highlighted that the knowledge she possesses is “not necessarily Jeopardy! knowledge,” and specified certain “categories” she would excel in, such as science, crosswords, and anything in the “realm” of Hebrew and Jewish studies, which she has a minor in, per The Sun.

In this way, Bialik differs from Jennings, her co-host who has assumed all hosting responsibilities of both Jeopardy! and Celebrity Jeopardy amid Bialik’s preliminary exit to stand in solidarity with the WGA strike (which ended last month) and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

Jennings’ historic 74-game winning streak has made him a fan favorite, but in terms of ratings, the show’s EP, Michael Davies, told Vulture in May that there was “zero difference” in ratings between the two hosts.

“It’s exactly the same and that’s the broadest part of the audience,” he said at the time.

Jeopardy! airs weeknights at 7/6c. Check out the website for local listings. Watch the full interview above.