'Jeopardy!' host Ken Jennings reveals why he never would have chosen himself to replace Alex Trebek

foxnews.com:

Ken Jennings currently hosts "Jeopardy!" on a rotating basis with Mayim Bialik, the show's other host, but he recently revealed that if he were in charge of casting, he would have gone in a totally different direction. "If I were hiring for that job, I would go with a sturdy broadcaster with decades of experience, not just somebody who happened to be good at the show many years ago," he admitted. "But luckily they took a chance on me." Calling the hosting gig his "dream job" in an interview with Deseret News, he reiterated, "I was 100% confident I would not get a shot at the job — because that would be insane." He went on to praise Alex Trebek, the beloved "Jeopardy!" host who ran the ship from 1984 up until his death from pancreatic cancer in 2020.

At the time, most viewers found the idea of anyone taking over the job a tough pill to swallow. Jennings also praised his wife for helping him gain some confidence during those early days, saying that she made sure to have the show playing every single night. "And I would say, ‘Why are you watching "Jeopardy!?" I’m not at the office, do we have to have this on?'" he laughed. "She wanted to watch me daily on ‘Jeopardy!’ Maybe I was not supportive. ...

I love ‘Jeopardy!’ the same way I did when I was a kid, but I can’t watch it the same way I did when I was a kid." Of his wife, he continued, "She’s always been like a real reassuring presence for me.

Like the first day I was filling in for Alex, I called home, and she said, ‘Well, how did it go?’ And I said, ‘Well, let me put it this way: I am not Alex Trebek up there.’ And she said, ‘Well, you know what?