Ken Jennings Gets Candid About Whether He’d Win ‘Jeopardy!’ Today
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At the G.O.A.T. of Jeopardy!, many fans would think that Ken Jennings could still beat today’s players, but the 74-game champion turned host doesn’t know if he could.
Jennings told TV Insider that he follows along with the clues on the game show as he hosts to see how many he can get right, but with the current super champion Scott Riccardi on a roll, does he think his record could ever be broken? And what does he think about it?
Scott Riccardi is a 14-day champion who has “saved” the season as it comes to a close on Friday. He is currently ranked in 12th place overall, above Ray Lalonde. His winnings stand at $390,902, and he still has three games left to play in Season 41. Although 14 games seem like nothing compared to Jennings’ 74, Riccardi seems to be on a roll that may continue for a long time.
According to the Leaderboard of Legends, Jennings stands at number one for Consecutive Games Won and Highest Winnings (Regular-Season Play) with $2,520,700. He stands at number two for All-Time Winnings (including Tournaments) behind Brad Rutter with $4,370,700.
Read on for Ken Jennings’ thoughts on the super champion and how he incorporates Alex Trebek into his hosting duties.
As the Jeopardy! host, do you try to answer the clues in your mind to see how many
you get right?
I do, but not during the game. I’m very busy during the game, but I’m like Alex [Trebek], I see all the clues ahead of time. I go through every single category, making sure I can do the pronunciation. Alex had kind of a little markup he would do on the clue itself to indicate how the rhythm of how he wanted to read it. And I inherited some of his scripts, and I kind of learned his language. So now, I do the same thing, and then as I do that, I always have like something like a cell phone or a piece of paper so I can cover up the response as I go and kind of quiz myself. And it turns out, I am not quite as good at Jeopardy! as I was, say 20 years ago, when I had like a 20-something’s brain. I’ve definitely lost a step, but it’s fun to play along.
Current champion Scott Riccardi is on a roll right now. So when a contestant like that starts racking up games, are you thinking, ‘Oh, my God, they’re getting close to my record, or do you cheer them on?’ Like, what goes through your head when they start getting in the top 20?
It’s been a while since we’ve had a super champion, so Scott’s run has been really exciting for us. It’s always exciting to have a super champ. I’m generally rooting for them to break my record. I mean, I’m not rooting for any particular player, but I like the idea that my record is breakable. Like I think that’s true, and I just want to be there firsthand and watch it if it happens. So I always get excited about that, but the line you’re trying to walk is you don’t want to talk up the super champ too much. You want to come out on stage and be a bit of a hype man to tell the audience what kind of talent we’re looking at here. But there’s two other contestants that do not want to hear Scott’s bona fides at the top of the game, and so you want to walk a tightrope of, let’s not demoralize the other two players, because there’s always an upset. Everybody loses on Jeopardy! eventually. That’s the ironclad law.
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