“I miss Alex.”
The first “Jeopardy!” episode since the death of Alex Trebek aired on Monday, with Ken Jennings presented as the first in a series of interim guest hosts, barely able to hold back tears when talking about the deceased host.
“Sharing this stage with Alex Trebek was one of the greatest honors of my life,” he said Monday during the inauguration of the program.
Even without the man who brought wit and balance to the show for almost 37 years, “Jeopardy!” started work as usual on Monday. Jennings, who holds the record for “Jeopardy!” Longest streak of victories, he opened the program with a monologue dedicated to Trebek, almost suffocating in the process.
“There aren’t many things in life perfect, but Alex did this job almost perfectly for over 36 years, and it was even better up close,” he continued. “We were dazzled by his intelligence, his charm, his grace; in reality, there is no other word.”
“Like all” Jeopardy! “Fans, I miss Alex. Very much. And I thank him for everything he did for all of us,” he added.
Jennings, however, said the show had to continue, despite Trebek’s death in November 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, as there are tens of millions of fans “who love this show.” The last emotional episode of Trebek aired on Friday, filmed just 10 days before he died. The episode included one montage of the best moments of Trebek over the years, which moved many fans to cry.
“Let’s be totally clear: no one will ever replace the great Alex Trebek, but we can honor him by playing the game he loved,” he concluded, before entering Monday night’s game.
But he didn’t miss the 74-time champion that fans prefer to see Trebek as the buzzer, as he has done for more than 8,200 episodes since 1984.
“Honestly, I’m with the audience,” the 46-year-old said he said in a promo posted before the show. “I do not want to go out here. I want to see Alex here. I know exactly how they feel when they see someone else behind this lectern. ”
“I’m thrilled to fill and help,” said Jennings, who won the title of Greatest of All Time last year.
Fans seemed to agree after watching Monday’s episode, write: “Look at it right now and I won’t lie, but I find it weird” and “Wow. This will take a while time to get used to it ”.
Jennings has been a consulting producer for “Jeopardy!” this season, which saw him present special video categories, help with contestants and other aspects of the show. He is the first to be part of a “series of temporary guest hosts from within the program” Jeopardy! “family,” which also possibly includes Katie Couric.
Although Jennings said it was “surreal” to host the show, Trebek gave him some advice if he would ever replace him as host.
“I talked to him on the phone last weekend and he was, he was fragile, but he was still very Alex,” Jennings told “Good Morning America.” “I remember he just had a lot of confidence in me to be a guest if I ever needed him.”
Rumors have surfaced that Jennings was being “prepared” to take over the show and her name was thrown into the ring as a possible permanent replacement, fueled even more when she apologized in advance for past “insensitive” tweets before her debut to the host. He is also the host of the new series “The Chase” along with his partner Jeopardy! James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter, competitors of The Greatest of All Time ”.
But Jennings said that in that last conversation, Trebek reminded him that “the host is not the star of ‘Jeopardy!’ “Noting that the beloved host” always referred to the players and the competition. “
“It’s hard to imagine that on the current TV scene, a star of his size would say, ‘Hey, the game isn’t about you,’ but that was great advice.”