Jeopardy Champion Praises LeVar Burton's Guest Hosting Run

Jeopardy has a new contestant now able to participate in the Tournament of Champions, as Matt Amodio has won a total of eight games over the last week and a half. Amodio found his way onto the Top 10 all-time Jeopardy winnings list after just seven victories and he looks poised for even more wins in the future. Five of Amodio's wins came during the guest hosting run of LeVar Burton, who many fans hope will take over the permanent job this fall. According to Amodio, Burton has certainly earned the gig.

While speaking to EW about his phenomenal run on Jeopardy, Amodio was asked about working with Burton over the course of an entire week. There was no shortage of praise for the most recent guest host.

"That was amazing. He is an awesome guy," Amodio said. "He just exudes a calmness and a coolness to him that I envy as a person. And he was incredibly gracious. He clearly wanted to do well, and I think the fact that he wants to be selected as the permanent host is incredibly obvious, because of how much care he put into it. I was honored to meet him. He's been an icon for me personally ever since I was a kid; Reading Rainbow was a staple for me. I'm not a Star Trek person, but my brother is, and he really wanted to send me with every meme quote that I could possibly get to say in front of him. I held my tongue; I'm sure he gets enough of that. But I was floored by the experience. I had high expectations going in just because of the legend he is, and he met them. I'll never forget it."

Everyone who has ever worked with LeVar Burton seem to love who he is and the work ethic he brings to the table, and it appears that the contestants on Jeopardy feel the same say. This could go a long way towards Burton landing the full-time job this fall, replacing the late Alex Trebek.

That said, Amodio also had some kind words for Robin Roberts, who served as the guest host before Burton.

"And I don't want to give short shrift to Robin Roberts either, who was the host at the beginning [of my run]," Amodio added. "She doesn't necessarily have the crazy Twitter momentum that got LeVar onto the show, but she was awesome and very fun. I'm not sure I saw her lose her smile from the moment of the show beginning all the way to leaving at the end of the day."

Who do you hope to see take over as the permanent Jeopardy host? Let us know in the comments!