Everett Collection
Ken Jennings began as a contestant on Jeopardy! back in 2004 and became one of the top champions of the game show. Now, he is one of the hosts after longtime host Alex Trebek passed away. Ken was on the show so often, that he became quite close with Alex before he died in 2020 from pancreatic cancer.
Ken is now sharing the last conversation he had with Alex. He said that they had talked about him stepping in as a temporary host as Alex got weaker. Ken explained, “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. 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. It was a tough moment. But once you got over the timbre of the voice, he was still very much Alex.”
He continued, “The thing that stuck with me is he thanked me for coming in to fill in for him. That just broke me. I said, ‘Alex, are you kidding? We should be thanking you. I’d take a bullet for you, Alex. I’m happy to help.’ Of course, I didn’t know that he would be gone within 36 hours.”
Ken also revealed that he had been talking to Alex about working more behind the scenes on Jeopardy! if he was done being a contestant. Ken not only competed during his 74-game winning streak but appeared in a few specials including the IBM Challenge and All-Star Games.
When Ken first started hosting in January 2021, he made sure to pay tribute to his mentor. He said, “Thank you everyone — welcome to Jeopardy! You know, sharing the stage with Alex Trebek was one of the greatest honors of my life. Not many things in life are perfect. But Alex did this job pretty much perfectly for more than 36 years, and it was even better up close. We were dazzled by his intelligence, his charm, his grace. Really, there’s no other word for it. Like all Jeopardy! fans, I miss Alex very much. I thank him for everything he did for all of us… No one will ever replace the great Alex Trebek.”
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