Ken Jennings has comfortably moved into the hosting position for the hit game show Jeopardy! and has even earned award nominations for his work.
However, he may be frustrated he didn’t receive the job for a new spin-off.
Monsters and Critics reported that Colin Jost is the official Pop Culture Jeopardy! host when the new show begins filming later this year.
Jost, known for his work on Saturday Night Live, recently wrapped up additional work as an NBC correspondent at the Paris Olympics, covering surfing.
While he suffered a minor injury during that work, he appears on track to start hosting the spin-off game show very soon.
However, with the SNL star selected over Jennings, an inside source indicated that Jennings “feels slighted” by the decision and even “petrified” about what could happen.
Jennings ‘feels sighted’ after not getting spin-off job
A source opened up about the situation involving Jeopardy! host Jennings not getting the Pop Culture hosting job.
“It’s open knowledge in Jeopardy! circles that Ken feels slighted by this. And to be fair, he does have a right to feel insecure because it’s a clear indication that the bosses want to broaden their options and add some much-needed pizazz to the franchise,” the source shared, per Closer Weekly.
The source said that “Ken’s the undisputed GOAT” for contestants, and being the late Alex Trebek’s “firm favorite” also “goes a long way.”
However, the source added that Jennings is “petrified” about what it could mean “if Colin comes in and knocks it out the park” because then “the writing’s on the wall.”
Jennings, 50, has hosted Jeopardy! since 2021. He recently received a nomination for Outstanding Host at the 11th Annual American Reality TV Awards and will be up against other stars, including Steve Harvey, Wayne Brady, and Robin Roberts.
The source mentioned there is “only so much room for sentiment when it comes to cold, hard ratings numbers” and that Family Feud’s Harvey and The Price Is Right’s Drew Carey are “still killing it” just as Ryan Seacrest is getting started at Wheel of Fortune.
While Wheel and Jeopardy! are both on ABC, the Pop Culture Jeopardy! spin-off releases on Amazon Prime later this year.
Jost joked about his injury after the Paris Olympics
As mentioned, Jost is fresh off another TV job, as he covered surfing for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Jost had the enviable gig of presenting his coverage from Tahiti, where the events occurred.
However, his efforts didn’t come without some injuries. The SNL star revealed he’d injured his toes while covering the Olympics and shared an Instagram photo of several toes wrapped in bandages.
He didn’t shy away from joking about his injury. In a humorous video about it, he reported from Malta.
“Dude, are you OK?!” Jost said is “the No. 1 text message” he’d received in the past 48 hours.
He said it’s “usually followed by, ‘Heard your foot fell off.”
“I’m actually fine, and despite what big media conspiracies would have you believe, I wasn’t sent home from the Olympics. NBC simply looked at my foot [and] declared me legally a leper and exiled me here…to the island of Malta,” he joked in the video (below).
Jost said although Malta didn’t have many Olympians at the Paris event this year, “it does have lots of British kids competing to see who can black out the fastest.”
He also joked about the casino behind him, where he blew “the hundreds of dollars he earned as a surfing correspondent.”
He’ll soon return to his job at SNL, where he co-hosts the Weekend Update with Michael Che. However, he’ll start his new game show hosting gig even sooner.
A schedule recently became available for Pop Culture Jeopardy!, which reveals when the show will film its first episodes.
The show is filmed at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. According to On Camera Audiences, a website where fans can get tickets, the first filming is on Saturday, August 17.
Additional episodes will film on August 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, and 29.
The website’s details also indicate that fans will see either two or three episodes filmed, and their entire experience will take about four to five hours from arrival through the conclusion of the final episode’s taping.
Fans can get additional details and requirements for attending the filming on the OCA website.
The Pop Culture Jeopardy! premiere date is unknown, but previous details revealed that the show will air on Amazon Prime later this year.