Ken Jennings Reveals The 'Jeopardy!' Tradition He Is Carrying Over From Alex Trebek

“Jeopardy!” host Ken Jennings is opening up about one tradition that he is carrying on from late host Alex Trebek.

The Canadian-American TV host died in November 2020 at the age of 80 after a public battle with pancreatic cancer.

Ken Jennings has made it no secret that he is a big fan of science fiction, which is why he attended the TCM Classic Film Festival opening night screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on April 24. At the event, he told PEOPLE magazine about how “tricky” it was to step into the late host’s shoes.

“It was very tricky after Alex passed because, of course, we all missed him,” he explained. “No one had seen anybody else host Jeopardy for nearly 40 years. It was a tricky adjustment, and I didn't want to be there.”

“I wanted Alex – like he was my guy, but luckily I had seen him host enough that I kind of had this internal sense of what he would do here, and that's really the only thing that got me through,” he continued. “And a few years on, I've gotten enough reps that I feel a little more comfortable out there.”

Jennings was then asked if he wanted to switch anything up and make it different from the way Alex Trebek did. However, he said that the producers follow a “very tight format” and noted that they are serving a “tradition-observant audience” and a “change-resistant audience” that would not like him messing with the way Alex did things too much.

“So I don't think anybody suddenly wants to…What would it even be? A catchphrase? ‘Jennings out!’?” he joked. “I think Ryan [Seacrest]'s doing Wheel [of Fortune] now, so there's unlikely to be big changes on my watch,” he added. “I'm a fan first and foremost. I want to see the Jeopardy I grew up on.”

The format of the show is unlikely to change, and it seems that one dressing room tradition inherited from Alex Trebek is not going to change either. Jennings explained that Alex was a big old movie fan, so Trebek always had TCM (Turner Classic Movies) in the dressing room before the show.

“From my childhood on, and it's part of our Jeopardy! tradition because Alex always had TCM on in the dressing room, and that's something I'm gladly keeping going,” Jennings revealed, noting that he is “absolutely” also a fan of old movies, just like Trebek was.

Alex Trebek revealed that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019 and passed away the following year. On November 8, 2024, the fourth anniversary of his death, Jennings took to Instagram to share a sweet memory of the late host.

“Today, on the anniversary of his passing, I've been thinking a lot about the last time I ever came here to watch him host,” he shared. “It was shortly before the pandemic, and he had announced his cancer diagnosis, and he actually asked if I would come backstage. And I was a little bit apprehensive about this. I'd never been to his dressing room, as a contestant."

"He wasn't feeling great that day," he continued. "Often he would look and sound fantastic while doing the show, but he wasn't in the best shape backstage, but he greeted me warmly, and I asked how he was doing, and I was really touched by how emotional he was about the outpouring of love he was getting from Jeopardy fans.”

Last month, Jennings recently celebrated JeoparDAY! with many of the show's fans. The annual holiday is celebrated on March 30th, the anniversary of the original show's debut on NBC in 1964.

During JeoparDAY!, fans can participate in an online test to become a contestant on the show. There are also charitable donations linked to the event, like a donation to the Alex Trebek Fund, which provides resources and training for treating pancreatic cancer.