Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings opened up about the differences between Pat Sajak’s and Alex Trebek’s interactions with their game show contestants.
Ken recently discussed his hosting style during a podcast appearance and likened himself to the “brilliant” Pat Sajak rather than his predecessor, Alex Trebek.
The 49-year-old game show host and author spoke with Justin Long on his Life is Short with Justin Long podcast and revealed that he found Pat’s hosting style more “fun.”
“Alex was such a genius at being the host of Jeopardy! You really cannot do better than that,” Ken dished.
“But as a kid, I was always like, ‘Pat’s more fun. Pat jokes around with the three people,'” Ken added.
Admittedly, Ken’s hosting style is more like Pat’s. He continued to tell Justin and his listeners that she shares Pat’s joking nature when he’s hosting Jeopardy!
Ken Jennings says his Jeopardy! hosting style is more like Pat Sajak’s
“I’m a little more of a Pat Sajak where I’m like if I say one more thing, please end it with a joke, whereas Alex was very much like, ‘OK, helium balloons, all right. How about you?'” Ken stated.
“I want to make it less painful than it was for me as a viewer,” Ken noted about how he interacts with Jeopardy! contestants.
Before he died in 2020 from pancreatic cancer, Alex Trebek hosted Jeopardy! for 37 seasons. Following his passing, Ken temporarily filled Alex’s hosting duties along with The Big Bang Theory actress Mayim Bialik before they were named permanent co-hosts.
Ken revealed that he thought his hosting gig would only be temporary, as it was rumored that Alex would pull through and make a full recovery after battling pancreatic cancer.
Ken spoke with Alex Trebek on the evening before his death
Ken spoke to Alex the night before he lost his battle with cancer regarding guest-hosting in his place.
“Yeah, I actually ended up talking to him what turned out to be the night before the day he passed away,” Ken revealed on Last Podcast on the Left earlier this year.
“And we didn’t know… we thought, ‘Oh, he’s gonna get better, he’s gonna bounce back, he’ll be hosting again.’ I was just gonna fill in,” Ken said.
“And we talked about the game, and he gave me the impression he always did over the years, which was that he did not want to be the center of attention on Jeopardy,” Ken continued. “He was never announced as the star of Jeopardy.”
Before Ken became a host of Jeopardy!, he set a record when he became the winningest contestant in the game show’s history.
The Washington native impressed viewers with an epic 74-game winning streak, taking home $2,520,700 in winnings.
Pat Sajak is finishing out his final season on Wheel of Fortune before Ryan Seacrest takes over
As for Pat Sajak, the long-standing Wheel of Fortune host will finish out Season 41 and then retire after 40 years of work.
Following Pat’s retirement, another veteran TV show host will take over: Ryan Seacrest.
There have been mixed reviews from Wheel of Fortune viewers about Ryan’s upcoming hosting gig, but his future co-host, Vanna White, has no qualms about working alongside the 48-year-old American Idol host.
After first calling Ryan to congratulate him on his impending hosting job, Vanna called her future co-worker “so kind.”
“I don’t know. I mean, he’s professional,” Vanna shared. “He’s gonna be just fine.”