Mike Richards' legal past comes back to haunt him as 'Jeopardy!' hosting gig looms

With "Jeopardy!" executive producer Mike Richards emerging as the apparent front-runner to replace the late Alex Trebek as host of the long-running quiz show, three lawsuits alleging discrimination and gender-based harassment when he was at "The Price Is Right" are back in the spotlight.

Rumors that Richards was in advanced talks to become the permanent "Jeopardy!" host have come up as competition from higher-profile names including Mayim Bialik, fan fave LeVar Burton and others faded.

Renewed scrutiny of the 46-year-old producer's legal entanglements comes despite his being dismissed as a defendant in one of the suits. The other two were settled out of court. All were filed by models who worked on the TV show "The Price Is Right," where Richards was co-executive producer and then exec producer from 2008 to 2018, before shifting to "Jeopardy!" The lawsuits were filed between 2008 and 2011.

A "Jeopardy!" representative declined to comment on behalf of the show and Richards.

The actions were filed against multiple defendants, including fellow "Price Is Right" producer Adam Sandler and production company Fremantle Media, now known simply as Fremantle. (Sandler is no relation to the "Happy Gilmore" actor who shares his name.)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, in 2010 model Shane Stirling sued producers for wrongful termination, alleging that she was improperly let go in 2008 after she returned from pregnancy leave. That case was dismissed in 2012 after Stirling had trouble bringing sufficient evidence to prove her claims and the judge decided that the statute of limitations had run out.

Also in 2010, model Brandi Cochran sued for wrongful termination, alleging that she got less work after telling producers she was pregnant with twins. One of her twins died in miscarriage while the other was born three months premature and had health issues. Cochran said producers sent her mixed signals about whether she could return to work; then she found out she'd been fired.

Lanisha Cole sued in 2011, alleging wrongful constructive termination, retaliation, sexual harassment and more. Cole said in her court filing that Richards began treating her differently from the other models, causing her "great uncertainty" about her performance.

Cole also alleged that Richards barged into a dressing room in September 2010 while she was clad only in a thong and berated her for not wearing a microphone on set — something she said was not unusual among the show's models due to costume-change logistics.

She was told soon after that she couldn't work for a full week because she had a family conflict one day that week, the lawsuit said, with producers citing policies that hadn't existed previously. The model felt she had no choice but to quit, the filing said.

Richards was dismissed as a defendant, and the case was settled out of court in 2013.