Ken Jennings Spills ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Secrets

Ken Jennings Spills ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Secrets & Admits He Gets ‘Mean’

ABC Publicity

Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings admitted to “acting like a mean teacher” on the set of Celebrity 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 Saturday Night Live spoofing it.

In a clip for Celebrity Jeopardy! shared by ABC, Jennings said that none of the stars had played Jeopardy! before and considered them rookies to the game. “I was just astounded by the level of play,” he said. “They were willing to take big risks. They were playing like pros.”

However, the former player said 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. “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. 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.” The celebrity version is an hour long compared to the regular 30-minute show.

“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!” he said.

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 or dole-whitter famous people. 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.

Season 3 of Celebrity Jeopardy! is currently in its semi-finals, with the next episode airing on Wednesday, April 2. Comedian Margaret Cho, actor Jackie Tohn, and comedian and author W. Kamau Bell will face off.

Also still left in the competition are actress Robin Thede, actress Natalie Morales, comedian Roy Wood Jr., NFL Analyst Mina Kimes, actor Sean Gunn, and entrepreneur and podcast host Dave Friedberg. After a winner is determined in the next three rounds, those contestants will face off in the finals.