Jeopardy!’s Ken Jennings called out for avoiding Alex Trebek’s favorite trick for ‘keeping players on their toes’

JEOPARDY! fans have noted a trick formerly used by late host Alex Trebek that they wish Ken Jennings would execute.

Ken, 50, became the official host of the popular game show in 2020 after longtime host Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer.

Jeopardy! viewers have called out Ken Jennings for not doing one of Alex Trebek’s tricks on the show that used to keep fans on their toesCredit: Getty

Ken was one of the hosts who took over for Alex, who hosted the show for 37 seasons, following his death in 2020Credit: Getty

Other viewers said they preferred Ken to Mayim Bialik, who was abruptly fired from the show after originally splitting hosting duties with KenCredit: Getty
Alex hosted 37 seasons of Jeopardy!, with Ken and former host Mayim Bialik, 48, taking on the role after.

After Mayim was let go at the end of 2023, Ken — who once had a 74-game winning streak on the show — took over the reins.

On Reddit, viewers recently reminisced about some of their favorite quirks Alex would do on the show.

“What of Alex’s little hosting quirks do you miss the most? Is it the way he tore into pronouncing ‘genre?’ ‘Oooh, sore-y?’ ‘…Good for you?’” one person asked.

Other Jeopardy! fans noted some of Ken’s hosting characteristics, which they compared to Alex’s.

“I’ve noticed that Ken only ever prefaces a clue with ‘answer…’ when it’s the daily double,” someone pointed out.

“Alex did that, too, but would also use it on some non-DDs. Kept you on your toes,” they added.

“I noticed Alex definitely did it a lot more on the super early seasons, but very rarely on the more recent ones,” a second said.

“I do appreciate that that’s something Ken does for daily doubles. I don’t think it’s something any of the guest hosts did,” they continued.

“Definitely prefer this to ‘oh, it’s a Daily Double’ from Mayim. Gotta remind everyone of the reversed question and answer setup of Jeopardy,” a third said.

“Probably a habit from hosting so long, he would start with ‘answer’ or ‘the answer is”‘a lot in the early days of the show. The clues were very different back then, in terms of structure,” a fourth chimed in.

ALEX WOULD NEVER

When it comes to comparing the two hosts, some fans recently called out Ken for doing something Alex “would’ve never done” as a host.

Earlier this week, the former Jeopardy! champ was slammed for making a major pronunciation error in Double Jeopardy!.

Ken gave the clue, “An active volcano lies within this country’s Taal Lake, which itself occupies a caldera.”

Jeopardy! Host Timeline

Jeopardy! has had a tumultuous history regarding hosts after the death of the iconic Alex Trebek in 2020. Here are all of the hosts since the game show’s inception in 1964.

Art Fleming – 1964 to 1975, he was the original host of the daytime version of Jeopardy! on NBC.

Alex Trebek – 1984 to 2020, the late, great Alex hosted Jeopardy!’s modern iteration for 36 years until his death from pancreatic cancer.

Guest hosts – 2020 to 2021, Jeopardy! tested out a series of guest hosts for week or two-week stints, including Anderson Cooper, LaVar Burton, and Aaron Rodgers.

Mike Richards – 2021, he was named host for one week before resigning amid controversy. He was the show’s executive producer at the time.

Mayim Bialik – 2021 to 2023, when Mike was announced as the show’s new host, Mayim was chosen to host tournaments and primetime specials.

Mayim and Ken Jennings – 2022 to 2023, 74-time champion Ken (the longest-winning contestant ever) joined Mayim as a guest host and they split hosting duties.

Ken Jennings – 2023 to present. Last December, Mayim announced on Instagram that she would “no longer” host Jeopardy! after a lengthy hiatus, having stood with the writer’s strike, and Ken was named sole host.

Ken now helms all editions of Jeopardy! including Celebrity Jeopardy!, the nightly show, and other primetime specials like Masters.

None of the players buzzed in to answer, with Ken eventually clarifying, “In the Philippines.”

On Reddit, fans were quick to pick up on the TV host’s mispronunciation of the lake itself.

“Ken mispronounced it as tall, not ta-al, two syllables,” one person rote.

“Wish Ken learned the correct way to pronounce Taal,” a second added.

“Yeah kinda disrespectful Trebek wouldn’t have done that,” another slammed.

Past installments of Jeopardy! with Alex, pictured in 1990, are currently available to stream on Pluto TVCredit: Getty

HERE FOR A GOOD TIME

Despite some backlash, viewers have also noted how much more fun Ken makes the show after rewatching Alex’s past installments on Pluto TV.

“First, [Ken] reads the clues so quickly that the players get to finish all of them. I can’t even remember the last time they didn’t get to all of the questions. And as a result of this, they’ve got more for the contestant interviews,” one person wrote in another online thread.

“I’ve been watching past seasons with Alex on PlutoTV, and there’s no question that Ken has a quicker pace when reading clues,” a second said.

“It seems more fun with Ken as the host than Alex, but I also love Alex. Also, Ken being a former champion that I like because he can relate to the contestants and talk to them about things Alex couldn’t,” another wrote.