Ken Jennings, 49, has revealed his final conversation with legendary “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek — just hours before he died.
The beloved host died in November 2020 at age 80 after a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“I actually ended up talking to him what turned out to be the night before the day he passed away, about guest hosting for him,” Jennings recalled about Trebek during an appearance on the “Last Podcast on the Left” on Wednesday.
The subject got here up when Jennings was asked whether Trebek had ever given him any advice in regards to the job.
“We actually didn’t know. We thought, ‘Oh, he’s going to get well, he’s gonna bounce back, he’ll be hosting again.’ I used to be just going to fill in,” Jennings continued.
During what would find yourself being their last conversation, Jennings revealed that the 2 of them spoke in regards to the game of “Jeopardy!”
“You realize, he gave me the impression he all the time did over time, which was that he didn’t wish to be the focus on ‘Jeopardy!’” the host said.
“He was never announced because the star of ‘Jeopardy!’ — he was all the time the host of ‘Jeopardy!’ because he thought the sport itself and the contestants must be the star.”
Jennings, who’s a previous “Jeopardy!” champion, began to permanently host the show alongside Mayim Bialik in September 2022 but appeared as a guest host repeatedly before Trebek passed away.
Throughout the podcast appearance, Jennings also shared some memories of Trebek and explained what the longtime TV fixture was like behind the scenes.
“During commercials, he would tell jokes, go into the group. He loved to warm up the group himself and do little impressions. He was a really light, funny guy,” said the 49-year-old, who first appeared on stage alongside Trebek in 2004 through the show’s twentieth season. “But he had to maintain the show moving because that’s the job description.
“But things you think that you recognize about him — that’s he’s smart, that he actually knew all those answers and wanted you to know that he knew them, was a really well-read and form of a gentleman of the old skool — all 100% true,” he continued.
Jennings added that although Trebek made hosting “look really easy” for 37 seasons, it’s actually quite difficult, because the game moves extremely quickly.
After the late host’s passing, “Jeopardy!” honored his legacy.
Last November, an episode of the show’s “Tournament of Champions” paid tribute to him with a category called “Remembering Alex Trebek.”
Season 40 of “Jeopardy!” is predicted to kick off in September but with some tweaks amid the continued Hollywood writers’ strike.
Jennings will probably be taking up hosting for Bialik on “Celebrity Jeopardy!” this season as she takes a step back to avoid crossing the picket line in support of the strike.
The A-list version of the sport show will air on Sept. 27 on ABC.
