Ken Jennings Reveals Touching ‘Jeopardy!’ Custom From Alex Trebek

The Canadian-American TV host died in November 2020 on the age of 80 after a public battle with pancreatic most cancers.

Ken Jennings has made it no secret that he’s an enormous fan of science fiction, which is why he attended the TCM Traditional Movie Pageant opening evening screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Again on April 24. On the occasion, he informed PEOPLE journal about how “tough” it was to step into the late host’s sneakers.

“It was very tough after Alex handed as a result of, in fact, all of us missed him,” he defined. “Nobody had seen anyone else host Jeopardy for practically 40 years. It was a difficult adjustment, and I did not wish to be there.”

“I wished Alex – like he was my man, however fortunately I had seen him host sufficient that I type of had this inside sense of what he would do right here, and that is actually the one factor that bought me via,” he continued. “And some years on, I’ve gotten sufficient reps that I really feel a bit of extra comfy on the market.”

Jennings was then requested if he wished to modify something up and make it completely different from the way in which Alex Trebek did. Nonetheless, he mentioned that the producers observe a “very tight format” and famous that they’re serving a “tradition-observant viewers” and a “change-resistant viewers” that will not like him messing with the way in which Alex did issues an excessive amount of.

“So I do not suppose anyone instantly desires to…What would it not even be? A catchphrase? ‘Jennings out!’?” he joked. “I feel Ryan [Seacrest]’s doing Wheel [of Fortune] now, so there’s unlikely to be massive adjustments on my watch,” he added. “I am a fan firstly. I wish to see the Jeopardy I grew up on.”

The format of the present is unlikely to alter, and it appears that evidently one dressing room custom inherited from Alex Trebek will not be going to alter both. Jennings defined that Alex was an enormous previous film fan, so Trebek at all times had TCM (Turner Traditional Films) within the dressing room earlier than the present.

“From my childhood on, and it is a part of our Jeopardy! custom as a result of Alex at all times had TCM on within the dressing room, and that is one thing I am gladly preserving going,” Jennings revealed, noting that he’s “completely” additionally a fan of previous motion pictures, identical to Trebek was.

Alex Trebek revealed that he had been recognized with pancreatic most cancers in 2019 and handed away the next 12 months. On November 8, 2024, the fourth anniversary of his demise, Jennings took to Instagram to share a candy reminiscence of the late host.

“At the moment, on the anniversary of his passing, I have been considering so much concerning the final time I ever got here right here to observe him host,” he shared. “It was shortly earlier than the pandemic, and he had introduced his most cancers analysis, and he really requested if I might come backstage. And I used to be a bit of bit apprehensive about this. I would by no means been to his dressing room, as a contestant.”

“He wasn’t feeling nice that day,” he continued. “Usually he would look and sound unbelievable whereas doing the present, however he wasn’t in the most effective form backstage, however he greeted me warmly, and I requested how he was doing, and I used to be actually touched by how emotional he was concerning the outpouring of affection he was getting from Jeopardy followers.”