Oct. 10 (UPI) — Jeopardy! co-hosts Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik say “there’s no imitating” late host Alex Trebek on the show.
Jennings, 48, and Bialik, 46, appeared in their first joint interview Monday on Good Morning America after being named the new permanent co-hosts of the long-running game show Jeopardy!
The pair discussed Trebek, who died at age 80 in November 2020 following a battle with pancreatic cancer, and continuing his legacy on the show.
Jennings and Bialik were asked if they have to fight the urge to imitate Trebek, who hosted more than 8,200 episodes of Jeopardy!
“For me, it was almost impossible because you’re saying these phrases that you’ve heard Alex say on TV for decades … and to this day I still hear Alex echoing in my head every time I say them,” Jennings said. “I think it’s nice. It’s very comforting, because Alex got this right every day.”
“There’s no imitating or kind of competing, even in your head, for a timbre or a tone or a pacing,” Bialik added. “I feel like Alex’s presence is here, and it is. It’s in the words we heard him say for so many decades.”
Jennings and Bialik are instead focused on imitating the “feeling” Trebek created on the show.
“I think for both of us, we feel like we’re really ushering in what Alex facilitated so beautifully, which is, again, highlighting contestants and the show that people know and love, Bialik said. “I think for me and Ken, we do love the purity and the fun Jeopardy! has been and will continue to be.”
“We miss Alex every day. But luckily, it still feels like ‘Jeopardy!'”@KenJennings and @missmayim talk about taking the reins of @Jeopardy, Alex Trebek’s legacy and the future of the game show. https://t.co/BDAiygRoLf pic.twitter.com/nxb7t32JRz— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 10, 2022
Jeopardy! returned for a 39th season in September.
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