Jeopardy! Wants You to Stop Thinking That About Ken Jennings

Time to start acting less like a Shiv and more like a Greg. Ahead of Jeopardy! returning to television after months of a forced coronavirus production hiatus, executive producer Mike Richards is trying to quell our assumptions about GOAT legend Ken Jennings’s new role as a consulting producer for the show. You know the thought. The successor thought. The Ken-Jennings-is-being-groomed-to-replace-Alex-Trebek thought. Don’t act like you haven’t had it. “If you sat in my morning meetings with Alex as he was going through the shows and the clues and then you watched him host the show — he’s the host of the show,” Richards explained in a new Ringer feature. “We’re not shopping. He’s our guy, and he’s our guy till he tells us he’s not our guy, and then we can have a different conversation. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to have that conversation until Alex comes to me and says, ‘OK. This is my plan.’”

As Jeopardy!’s newest consulting producer, Jennings will be presenting special video categories, developing projects, and acting as a general “ambassador” for the show throughout its new season. Additionally, he’ll be helping with contestant outreach as Jeopardy! auditions go virtual amid the coronavirus era. “You’ll see me regularly on the show and collaborating with the writers on clues,” Jennings told Good Morning America in a Monday interview. “Alex was not happy about the slightly longer Jeopardy! hiatus, so he’s excited to be back.” As are we and those snazzy new distanced podiums.