Ken Jennings is opening up about hosting Jeopardy!
The 51-year-old host of the long-running game show spoke out about his potential tenure on the program in an interview with TV Insider.
“The last host worked into his 80s. Traditionally, it’s not a job you retire from,” he told the outlet.
Former host Alex Trebek took on the role for 36 years, from its syndicated premiere in 1984 until his death in 2020.
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“I didn’t know at the time, but now that I have a few years under my belt, I think I understand why Alex wanted to do it. It’s just such an incredibly fun job. You’re playing along with the smartest folks and getting to see them do their thing up close,” he continued.
“I really feel very lucky that I’m still part of the Jeopardy! family after all these years. And I have no plans to hang it up.”
He also spoke about a change he’d like to make.
“There used to be a thing where the dollar amounts would appear on the board and the sound effect would be like ‘beep boop boop beep boop boop,’” he describes, “and we don’t have time for that sound effect anymore, apparently, but I miss it. I’m very nostalgic for that sound effect,” he noted.
“I feel like our ratings would probably double just from that. I’m not an expert, but I’m just spitballing. I think we would double our ratings if we had the dollar amount sound effect back.”
A contestant on a recent episode of Jeopardy had an incredibly touching story that had fans rooting for him during his journey on the game show!
