Now four years into his hosting gig, Jennings is opening up about the moment he thought to himself, “I don’t want to be here.”
In a far-reaching look at the inner workings of the show, Jennings spoke candidly with Rolling Stone about his approach to the job, sharing memories of his mentor and predecessor, Alex Trebek.
“That was the first time I ever had a conversation with him that was [about] torch passing, and even that was kind of very unspoken,” Jennings told the outlet.
“Everybody there was very emotional, and I had to be the one talking through it, even though I probably knew him least of all 100 people on set, crew and the staff. It was very scary. You’re aware that the audience does not want you there. They’re like me, they want the other guy, and I was missing him too. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to be here. I would give anything to not be here right now,’” he noted.
Though Jennings has deviated from some of Trebek’s hosting traditions, like meeting with contestants before they begin filming their episodes (contestants never saw Trebek until he walked out onto the stage at the top of the episode), there are a few tried and true Trebek-isms he still follows closely, like taking questions from the studio audience during commercial breaks.
“I saw the look that the contestants would have when he’d walk out on the stage. Or his facility with the material. I remember at one point, somebody buzzed in and gave the wrong response, and they said, ‘Who is Gainsborough?’ And he said, ‘Oh, no, I’m sorry, it’s Gainsborough’s great rival,’ and named some other obscure artist. It was just a moment, [but] who on earth other than Ken Jennings could have that moment?” revealed current showrunner Michael Davies.
“This is a place where nobody says, ‘Why are you doing a category about dinosaurs? Dinosaurs aren’t real.’ Or, ‘Why are you mentioning the moon landing? We never went to the moon.’ For whatever reason, Jeopardy! seems to be immune from that, and maybe that’s a good sign,” Jennings concluded.
Next: ‘Jeopardy’ Contestant Shares Blunt Opinion of Ken Jennings Mid-Show
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