#How Did ‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Host Katie Couric Do on Her First Episode?

Jeopardy! celebrated International Women’s Day by welcoming Katie Couric, its first female guest host, to the game show’s podium, and it seems that after just one show, viewers are evenly split on her performance. The former Today co-host and CBS Evening News anchor worked with two new competitors and a returning champion in the March 8 episode. She honored the late Alex Trebek in her opening remarks — now a guest host tradition — and kept things moving at a zippy pace.

On social media, viewers both praised and criticized her performance. One fan complimented Couric’s cadence and included a heart emoji in their tweet:

Awesome job @katiecouric on @Jeopardy tonight! Great voice, cadence and humor! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fBMqV0JOVl

— Gretta Hill (@GrettaHill4) March 9, 2021

Some fans were just plain excited:

Love her! She’s engaging, experienced, and enthusiast 😊Great choice. pic.twitter.com/QHLoY1yJjM

— Julia Goolia 🌈☀️ (@JuliaGoolia9) March 9, 2021

Another mentioned they appreciated that Couric was hosting on International Women’s Day:

Katie Couric did a great job guest hosting Jeopardy tonight, very fitting for International Women’s Day! pic.twitter.com/JWoLgM48v3

— janice nissen (@nissenja) March 9, 2021

And some note that Couric, naturally, is in her element behind a microphone:

@katiecouric Loved you on Jeopardy tonight! You’re a natural, your humor and excitement was so great!

— Joan Alford (@joan_alford) March 9, 2021

Then, of course, there were the detractors. One Twitter user noted that Couric still uses her talk show tactics even though she’s conversing with competitors:

It’s Katie Couric’s first night as guest Jeopardy host, she’s still working on her small talk game pic.twitter.com/DSQtKberxo

— David Malitz (@malitzd) March 9, 2021

This viewer used a gif to illustrate their feelings:

Me turning on #jeopardy and seeing Katie Couric is hosting pic.twitter.com/NNfR6nh0hv

— Johnny Hammer (@717Hammer) March 9, 2021

TV Insider received comments with similar sentiments on a poll conducted for the last guest host, Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Richards.

One reader wrote, “Someone like Richards or Ken Jennings should host the show since they have such a connection with Alex. I dread seeing these others on the list so much that I may not be able to watch.” (This comment received 42 likes.)

“People like Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper are too political for Jeopardy” wrote another. “Keep it on the Jeopardy family.” (This received 69 likes.)

And here are two others:

“My husband will NOT watch when [Katie Couric] is hosting. We’ll watch Family Feud those weeks. Anderson Cooper might be OK. We’ll give him a couple days trial. If we don’t like him we’ll go back to Family Feud!”

“I’ll miss the next few weeks of Jeopardy, I’m disappointed in the choices of Couric and Cooper and will not watch those episodes…not sure what the thought process was behind those invites! Alex kept politics out of Jeopardy…why bring these outspoken, controversial characters onto such a great show?”

Others urged these commenters and others like them to give Couric and the others a chance, and cautioned about pre-judging.

Couric follows in the footsteps of previous guest hosts Ken Jennings and Mike Richards. Her participation, like the others, is being rewarded in donations equaling the prize money of each episode’s winner. She is contributing to Stand Up to Cancer’s pancreatic cancer research.

Let us know what you thought about Couric’s first night on the job in the comments below!

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