‘Jeopardy!’: Ken Jennings Reveals What Makes Him ‘Get Mean’ With Contestants
Ken Jennings is usually lenient when it comes to his role as Jeopardy! host, but he isn’t afraid to get mean and throw some shade when the situation calls for it.
On the latest episode of the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, hosts Sarah Whitcomb Foss and Buzzy Cohen played a clip from an off-air segment where a member of the studio audience asked Jennings what happens when a contestant doesn’t answer in the form of a question.
“Oh, boy. Do you know what hanging, drawing, and quartering is?” Jennings quipped.
The host went on to say that he gets progressively meaner throughout the episode if a contestant continues to mess up that key Jeopardy! rule.
He explained, “The rules are actually different in the first and second rounds. In the first round, I get to remind them very sternly. I say, ‘Yes, but please remember your phrases.'”
“In the second round, I might give them a second to figure it out, and then I have to rule against them and say, ‘Oh, it was Grover Cleveland, but you had to say, ‘What is Grover Cleveland?'” he continued. “It gets meaner as the game progresses, just like life you will find.”
Jennings is not afraid to get sassy from time to time, as he proved on Tuesday’s (May 28) episode when champion Amar Kakirde answered “Jay-Z” for the rapper who has two kids with Rihanna.
“No. Big news for Beyonce if true,” Jennings said. “This is ASAP Rocky.”
In December, after a contestant slightly mispronounced an answer, Jennings gave them a second chance. But when the contestant failed again, the host quipped, “Zero for two.”
Back in October, when a contestant incorrectly answered “nausea” for a question about seasickness, Jennings joked, “Oh no, what is malaise… He might be coming up with nausea right now.”
He’s also known for his back-and-forth banter with long-time rival James Holzhauer, with the pair bantering throughout both Jeopardy! Masters tournaments.
Of course, Jennings follows in the footsteps of the late Alex Trebek, who was famously “mean” to contestants with his dry, sarcastic sense of humor. For example, when contestants took a while to buzz in, he joked, “Shall we go to commercial?”
Jennings became the host of Jeopardy! in 2021 following Trebek’s passing and producer Mike Richards’ ousting. He first took turns hosting with Call Me Kat star Mayim Bialik but was named the sole permanent host in December 2023 after Bialik was let go.
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R
For how long will he be compared to his predecessor? I love Ken but sometimes his NO comes across as if we're just waiting for: you dope. NO! Just his style I guess.
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R
I think Ken is great and his chiding of contestants is just enough.
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E
As someone who has never gotten over Jennings being chosen as host over Mayim, I find him perpetually grating! He is so completely lacking in grace that I have more than once vowed I would never again tune into Jeopardy!
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