Ken Jennings Reveals Touching ‘Jeopardy!’ Tradition From Alex Trebek

The Canadian-American television host died in November 2020 at the age of 80 after a public battle against pancreatic cancer.

Ken Jennings did not hide that he is a big fan of science fiction, which is why he attended the TCM Classic Film Festival Opening Night Project Star Wars: The Empire is backward April 24. During the event, he said PEOPLE review On the way it was “delicate” to enter the shoes of the late host.

“It was very delicate after Alex’s death because, of course, we all missed it,” he said. “No one had seen someone else welcome Jeopardy for almost 40 years. It was a delicate adjustment, and I didn’t want to be there.”

“I wanted Alex-as if he were my guy, but fortunately, I had seen him hosting enough so that I had somewhat internal sense of what he would do here, and it is really the only thing that made me pass,” he continued. “And a few years later, I had enough representatives for me to feel a little more comfortable there.”

We then asked Jennings if he wanted to change anything and make her different from the way Alex Trebek did. However, he said that the producers follow a “very tight format” and noted that they served a “traditional observer audience” and a “audience resisting change” who would not like him to spoil the way Alex did too much.

“So I don’t think someone suddenly wants it … What would that be? A slogan?” Jennings Out! “?” He joked. “I think Ryan [Seacrest]I do Wheel [of Fortune] Now it is unlikely that there are great changes on my watch, “he added.” I am a fan above all. I want to see the Peril I grew up.

It is unlikely that the format of the show is changing, and it seems that a tradition of cloakroom inherited from Alex Trebek will not change either. Jennings explained that Alex was a big old film fan, so Trebek had always TCM (Turner Classic Films) in the locker room before the show.

“From my childhood, and that is part of our Sweet! Tradition because Alex has always had TCM in the locker room, and it is something that I continue with pleasure, “revealed Jennings, noting that he is” absolutely “also a fan of old films, just like Trebek.

Alex Trebek revealed that he had received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in 2019 and died the following year. On November 8, 2024, the fourth anniversary of his death, Jennings took Instagram To share a sweet memory of the late host.

“Today, on the anniversary of his death, I thought a lot about the last time I came here to watch him host,” he shared. “It was shortly before the pandemic, and he had announced his diagnosis of cancer, and he actually asked if I came behind the scenes. And I was a little worried about it. I had never been in his locker room, as a competitor.”

“He didn’t feel well that day,” he continued. “Often, he looked and seemed fantastic by doing the show, but he was not in the best backstage, but he welcomed me warmly, and I asked how he was going, and I was really touched by how emotional he was about the outpouring of love he received Peril fans. “”

Last month, Jennings recently celebrated Jeoparday! With many fans of the show. The annual holidays are celebrated on March 30, the anniversary of the beginnings of the original program on NBC in 1964.

During Jeoparday!, Fans can participate in an online test to become a candidate for the show. There are also charities linked to the event, such as a donation to the Alex Trebek fund, which provides resources and training in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.