![]() It’s almost like being a contestant on the show - the game moves so fast, it just carries you with it. Even if I could figure out some of the rudiments of it, you’ve got an audience that doesn’t want to see me out there. ![]() He had done the job so perfectly for decades and suddenly, within weeks of his passing, I had to step in as a substitute. I’d like to say it was an honor, but really, all of the emotions around that were just panic. ![]() What did it mean to you that you were asked to be the first guest host after Alex died? Of course, I didn’t know that he would be gone within 36 hours. I said, “Alex, are you kidding? We should be thanking you. But the thing that stuck with me is he thanked me for coming in to fill in for him. At one point, he started talking about tennis players he compared to various Jeopardy! champions. But once you got over the timbre of the voice, he was still very much Alex - going down conversational side paths about old movies he liked. ![]() A producer set up a call, and his voice was notably weaker than we’d ever heard it on the air, which really struck me at first. I was scheduled to come into the studio to rehearse for some games even if Alex bounced back as he had before, he wanted somebody to fill in for him for a little while. What do you remember about your final conversation with Alex? It’s nice to still have that connection with his family and his legacy. Jean, his widow, was there the other day to give an award, the Alex Trebek Humanitarian Award, on his behalf at our inaugural Jeopardy! Honors ceremony. It’s not quite the same as a spectral form peering around a corner and saying, “No, no, what is Bucharest? Bucharest, Romania.” But it’s nice to feel like he’s still there and part of the show. You do kind of feel like he must be in the building. It’s hard not to feel his presence there. We’ve renamed the stage after him, so every time you watch Jeopardy!, it’s coming to you from the Alex Trebek Stage. Have you received any visits from Alex Trebek’s spirit? Until now, that is.Īna de Armas revealed she was haunted by Marilyn Monroe while filming Blonde. ![]() How was Richards able to Dick Cheney himself into the gig? Were the guest-host auditions fixed from the start? Would this all have been avoided if Jennings wasn’t extremely online? While Bialik has been an open book about how she’s viewed herself as a host, Jennings has remained quiet on the year’s events, always choosing to “look ahead” from his lectern despite having arguably the most compelling perspective. The news coverage that surrounded the host-hunting meltdown was tempestuous - something Jeopardy! never experienced in its five decades as America’s favorite quiz show of objective truth. That boogeyman, Mike Richards, stepped down by the end of month due to public backlash and being, in his words, “too much of a distraction,” throwing Jeopardy! into an intellectual abyss of chaos before producers settled on an amicable solution this summer: Jennings and actress Mayim Bialik would officially co-host on an alternating basis, ushering the show into a new era with even newer ambitions. (He even competed against a computer system for our pleasure.) Instead, the job was awarded to an unknown executive producer with a history of questionable workplace behavior. You see, Jennings was practically destined to host: The former computer programmer infectiously embodied the role of ultimate Jeopardy! insider ever since his historic run in 2004. Ken Jennings - Jeopardy!’s greatest player, its first guest host after Alex Trebek died, and someone even Trebek considered a worthy successor - was passed over for the show’s permanent hosting position in August 2021, a decision that seemed to surprise even the most indifferent of viewers. ![]()
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