FILE: Software developer Ken Jennings from Salt Lake City, Utah, right, poses for a photo with Jeopardy host Alex Trebek on the set of the show Tuesday, July 13, 2004, in Culver City, Calif. (AP Photo/Sony Pictures Television)
CULVER CITY, California — The legacy of Jeopardy! game show host, Alex Trebek, will live on. Jeopardy! returns to production on Monday, Nov. 30, show producers announced Monday.
And while they searched for a long-term host to replace Trebek, the team decided instead on a series of interim guest hosts from within the Jeopardy! family, starting with Ken Jennings.
Jeopardy! will announce other guest hosts in the coming weeks. The first week of guest-hosted shows will air the week of Jan. 11, 2021.
Ken Jennings is a familiar face on the trivia game show. He holds the all-time record (74) for most consecutive games won. He also won the most amount of money in regular-season play, raking in more than $2.5 million in earnings.
And his winnings don’t stop there. Jennings has also claimed the show’s “Greatest of All Time” title.
Jennings went to Brigham Young University (BYU) and graduated with a double major in English and computer science in 2000. After graduation, he worked as a software engineer for Intermountain Healthcare.
The deciding factor to keep the show going was to remember and celebrate Trebek, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80.
“Alex believed in the importance of Jeopardy! and always said that he wanted the show to go on after him,” said Jeopardy! Executive Producer Mike Richards.
Trebek has hosted more than 8,000 episodes of Jeopardy!, giving him the Guinness World Record® for Most Game Show Episodes Hosted by the Same Presenter. He hosted every episode of Jeopardy!, starting in 1984 up until his death in 2020.
“We will honor Alex’s legacy by continuing to produce the game he loved with smart contestants and challenging clues. By bringing in familiar guest hosts for the foreseeable future, our goal is to create a sense of community and continuity for our viewers,” said Richards.
The show will air 10 of Trebek’s best episodes during the weeks of Dec. 21 and Dec. 28, 2020. Trebek’s final appearances on the show will take place on the week of Jan. 4, 2021.