Inside Jeopardy host Ken Jennings’ tough rules for celebrities competing on show

With celebrities having a blast on the show, it’s little wonder that Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings has resorted to deploying some strict house rules to keep them in check.

Jeopardy host Ken Jennings strict rules for celebrities on the show (
Image: Jeopardy!)

It’s not every day that top stars line up to be in your show, so Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings has had to step up his house rules to keep them in check.

The presenter revealed in a behind-the-scenes clip just what it takes to keep all his famous guests in line on the set of the celebrity version of the show. The 50-year-old television personality said, “There’s a lot of fun interchanges between the contestants. Often, I have to be the mean substitute teacher who’s like, ‘Quiet down back there! We need to finish Jeopardy!”

In a behind-the-scenes video, the host also spilled some more secrets about the celebrity version of the game show and how he feels about spoofing it. In a clip shared by ABC, Jennings said that none of the stars had played Jeopardy! before so there was a great deal of excitement among the rookies.

“I was just astounded by the level of play,” he said. “They were willing to take big risks. They were playing like pros.”

Jeopardy host Ken Jennings strict rules for celebrities on the show ( 
Image:
Jeopardy!)
Jennings shared that he has to be more strict with the celebrity contestants compared to the regular contestants because there is a lot of talking going on. The celebrity version is an hour long compared to the regular 30-minute show.

He explained, “Jeopardy! is always Jeopardy!, but on the syndicated version, we have people who have never been on TV before. They’re nervous. They don’t know how they’re going to do.”

“Celebrities could not be more confident on camera,” he continued. “They’re here to have a good time, and it makes the game fun. There’s a lot more time in the format to joke around, talk about the clues, talk about how they did.”

Jennings opened up about how easy the celebrity version seems to be. Jennings said, “I think a lot of people associate Celebrity Jeopardy! with the SNL sketch. You know, softballs. The real show is not like that at all.”

“We want this to feel like legitimate Jeopardy! We want to test these people. So we have the very smartest people we can find. People who have to think on their feet a lot. This is not watered-down Jeopardy!”

SNL has parodied the game show numerous times, with Will Ferrell being the host and the celebrity contestants giving answers that would make Jennings shake his head.

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