Early career Richards began his career in college where he created, wrote, produced, and hosted a weekly late-night comedy talk show called
The Randumb Show at Pepperdine University. The show featured celebrity guests including
Kim Fields,
Casey Kasem and
Anson Williams. Richards was the second host of
Beauty and the Geek and produced numerous game shows, including
Weakest Link. He later hosted seasons of
High School Reunion on
The WB. During his early career, Richards was vice president of development and current programs for
Dick Clark Productions.
CBS: The Price Is Right and ''Let's Make a Deal'' From 2009 to 2019, Richards was the executive producer of
The Price Is Right and ''
Let's Make a Deal. He was also a candidate to host The Price Is Right
in 2007 before Drew Carey was chosen. In interviews of those two shows, Richards was described as "exclusionary and dismissive of longtime show employees"; he fired announcer Rich Fields and held on-air auditions, similar to the ones he later used on Jeopardy!'', to hire
George Gray as Fields's replacement. He also dismissed longtime producer, and longtime friend of
Bob Barker,
Roger Dobkowitz. Richards often neglected
Deal and was frequently absent from day-to-day operations. A post-producer was fired after sarcastically making an introduction that drew attention to Richards' absences. after which Richards apologized for the material and took the podcast offline. Richards was the subject of two
wrongful termination lawsuits from models on
The Price Is Right; one lawsuit was by Brandi Cochran, who alleged that CBS and
FremantleMedia discriminated against her by firing her after she became pregnant with twins, and another was by
Lanisha Cole, who claimed that Richards and fellow producer Adam Sandler (not to be confused with actor and comedian
Adam Sandler) berated her in front of her peers and wrongfully terminated her.
The Hollywood Reporter stated that Richards made a disparaging comment about Cochran's pregnancy at a 2008 party,
GSN: The Pyramid and Divided Richards hosted
GSN's 2012 revival of
The Pyramid and the network's American version of
Divided, which aired on the network from 2017 to 2018.
Sony Pictures Television: Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! Richards left both
Price and
Deal in 2019 and joined
Sony Pictures Television, where he was assigned to the
ABC primetime return of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as an executive producer alongside host
Jimmy Kimmel and
Michael Davies for the nine-episode first season of the show during the 2019–20 season. Richards also served as the executive producer for the 2021 GSN revival series of
Chain Reaction. For the 2020–21 season, Richards succeeded
Harry Friedman as executive producer of
Wheel of Fortune and
Jeopardy! After
Jeopardy! host
Alex Trebek died on November 8, 2020, Richards appeared at the start of the November 9 episode to pay tribute to him. Richards later filled in for two weeks as a guest host of the show, with his first episode airing on February 22, 2021. On August 4, it was reported that Richards had entered "advanced negotiations" to become the permanent host, though with other candidates still in contention. After that announcement, a lawsuit filed against Richards and others during his tenure as the executive producer of
The Price Is Right resurfaced, causing controversy. On August 11, it was announced that Richards would succeed Trebek as host of the daily show, with
Jeopardy! guest host
Mayim Bialik hosting future prime-time specials and spinoffs. However, nine days later, it was announced that Richards would step down after offensive comments he had made in the past emerged. aired in September to kick off the show's 38th season. Richards initially remained executive producer of
Wheel of Fortune and
Jeopardy! after resigning as host, with the backing of Sony Pictures and the head of its television division,
Ravi Ahuja. However, on August 31, 2021, a week and a half after Richards resigned as permanent host, he was fired as executive producer of both shows. Michael Davies from
Embassy Row served as interim executive producer for
Jeopardy! following Richards's departure, and on April 14, 2022, was announced to be taking the role full-time. On March 23, 2022, it was announced that
Bellamie Blackstone would take over the executive producer role for
Wheel of Fortune. Bialik and
Ken Jennings were eventually chosen as co-hosts for the syndicated version of
Jeopardy! on July 27, 2022. In a March 2024 interview with
People magazine, Richards revealed that after being fired, he spent a lot of time with family reflecting on what happened due to hate his family received in the wake of the controversy over his past behavior. Richards also revealed that he was also working on packaging and selling more shows at the time.
The Daily Wire On May 20, 2025, it was announced that Richards would join
The Daily Wire and would become president of Daily Wire entertainment and would also become its chief content officer (CCO). This comes following the exit of former co-CEO
Jeremy Boreing in March 2025. Richards is expected to work out of The Daily Wire's headquarters in
Nashville, Tennessee. == Personal life ==