“Jeopardy!” has chosen Ken Jennings as the new interim host in place of Alex Trebeck after his passing and will continue the legacy he left behind.
“Jeopardy!” will keep continuing making new episodes but with a series of temporary hosts and the first one will be Ken Jennings. The producer’s and the staff’s goals are to honor Trebek’s legacy by keeping the game going and challenge contestants with even more challenging clues. They will also bring familiar guest hosts and try to keep the continuity for the viewers.
And Jennings is no stranger to the game show as he’s been known for holding the record for 74 consecutive games in the show. In 2020 he was crown the GOAT player in the Primetime tournament event beating other former champs Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer.
Jennings will be one of the many temporary hosts until the show settles for a permanent one. He’ll start hosting in January.
For Jennings, he’s always been ashamed of being a trivia nerd up until he became a contestant on Jeopardy!. And now he’s proud to have the knowledge that he has is more confident in a lot of ways and is a full-time writer.
When asked about a future with the show before Alex Trebek had passed, it was hard for him to envision a future of the show without the Jeopardy! Host.
“As great as that job would be, I am emotionally prepared to do that right now. I have one host of Jeopardy! In my heart,” said Jennings in an interview.
Jennings has received some positive reaction from the media as he’s a great choice as a temporary hos considering he was a former champion and knows how the game works. So there’s no doubt he will keep the game going and similar atmosphere of the show.
However, an old tweet has resurfaced back in 2018 about his comments about a person in a wheelchair so there are doubts about him being the new host.
Jennings has addressed the tweet that stirred a lot of controversies and apologized for it.
“I never did a public flogging thing for this but I did apologize personally to angry/hurt people who reached out personally,” Jennings said in a post, “It was a joke so inept that it meant something very different in my head and I regret the albeit plain reading of it!”
There are still doubts about him being the new host despite the statement he made but there are many other people who are eager to see him take on the role as the new temporary game show host.
What makes Jeopardy! Special for viewers all over the world is that it helps them learn about American culture and its’ history. It also encourages people that it’s ok to be smart and to know all these trivial answers.
The game even makes its’ way into the classroom at schools since it’s an easy and fun way to learn about the content.
The show will air 10 of Alex Trebek’s best episodes starting December 21 and 21 and Trebek’s final episodes will air on Monday, January 4, 2021.