‘Jeopardy!’ hosting snub taught me ‘perfect nature of all things’

LeVar Burton seemed like a strong contender to replace Alex Trebek as the host of “Jeopardy!” after the longtime frontman’s death in November 2020.

The 66-year-old “Reading Rainbow” star ultimately didn’t win the gig, which was a stunning rejection at the time — but he’s apparently not holding grudges anymore.

“It really cemented to me that everything happens to me for a reason, right?” Burton told the A.V. Club in an interview published Monday.

He said the dismissal sent him into a period of self-reflection — and he now believes the experience taught him “the perfect nature of all things.”

He had even tried out the job for several episodes before longtime “Jeopardy!” executive producer Mike Richards scored a short-lived stint as the show’s lead in August 2021, beating out a surprised Burton.

Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialk permanently landed the gig in July 2022 and Burton was officially out of the running.

“I thought that I had a really good shot at getting the job,” Burton told A.V. Club. “What I didn’t know at the time was that it really wasn’t an audition.”

Richards’ hosting stint only lasted three weeks as he stepped down after allegations arose about sexist language and his self-acknowledged “insensitivity” in the past.

“The executive producer, the man who was hired to teach me how to play the game, who said he didn’t want the job but his job was to help them find the right person for the job, that person gave themselves the job,” Burton recalled of Richards, but didn’t refer to him by name.

“I was disappointed — I’m not gonna lie. I had to really sit down and try to figure out: So what — what happened here? What went wrong?” he added.

But Burton found other projects to keep his career afloat.

In November 2021, he was named the host of the “Trivial Pursuit” game show based on the Hasbro board game.

He also hosted the 2022 Grammys pre-show in March, as well as the Scripps National Spelling Bee in June 2022.

“I think sometimes in life we need to be willing to sit in the discomfort of things, before you get to the reason before you get to the goodie,” Burton said. “And sometimes just being willing to be uncomfortable is the purpose. Because the gift is on the other side.”

He also executive produced the new documentary “The Right to Read,” released last month, which brings attention to the nation’s literacy crisis through the eyes of an NAACP activist, a teacher in Oakland, California, and two families currently struggling with access to literacy education.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck emergency, because a child, if they don’t reach their level of reading proficiency by the time they’re in the fourth grade, chances are they will not graduate high school,” Burton said of the issue.

“You cannot reach your most full potential in life unless you are literate in at least one language,” he added. “That’s a national crisis.”