WATCH: Ken Jennings Pays Moving Tribute to Alex Trebek to Open His Stint as New Jeopardy! Host
Ken Jennings choked up at the start of the first Jeopardy! episode without Alex Trebek, eulogizing the longtime host and “his intelligence, his charm,” and “his grace.”
“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,” said Jennings, who was hired as interim host after Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer in November.
Trebek’s final episode was aired on Friday, officially making Jennings, who has won the most consecutive Jeopardy! wins, the show’s host as of Monday night.
“You know, sharing the stage with Alex Trebek was one of the greatest honors of my life. Not many things in life are perfect, but Alex did this job pretty much perfectly for more than 36 years and it was even better up close,” Jennings said. “We were dazzled by his intelligence, his charm, his grace — really there’s no other word for it.”
“Like all Jeopardy! fans, I miss Alex very much and I thank him for everything he did for all of us,” Jennings added, holding back tears. “And I thank him for everything he did for all of us.”
Jennings also took to Twitter before the show to share a picture of a ticket to Trebek’s first Jeopardy! episode in 1983:
A friend gave me this piece of quiz show history: an audience ticket to Alex’s very first Jeopardy! pilot from 1983. (“ALEX TREBEK! DOOR PRIZES!”) I kept it in my pocket while guest-hosting Jeopardy! this week, as a good luck charm. pic.twitter.com/dpDn67lWPp
— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) January 12, 2021
“A friend gave me this piece of quiz show history: an audience ticket to Alex’s very first Jeopardy! pilot from 1983,” he wrote. “(‘ALEX TREBEK! DOOR PRIZES!’) I kept it in my pocket while guest-hosting Jeopardy! this week, as a good luck charm.”
