Ken Jennings: Why I shouldn’t have replaced Alex Trebek on ‘Jeopardy!’

Ken Jennings has been a staple of “Jeopardy!” since he won 74 consecutive games back in 2004.

Now the 49-year-old former contestant has been co-hosting the long-running game show alongside Mayim Bialik since the late, great Alex Trebek passed in November 2020.

However, Jennings said he wouldn’t have picked himself for the job if he was in charge of casting for the series.

He told Utah outlet Deseret News recently that while hosting the show is his “dream job,” he would have picked someone else for the position.

“If I were hiring for that job, I would go with a sturdy broadcaster with decades of experience, not just somebody who happened to be good at the show many years ago,” the Washington native confessed. “But luckily they took a chance on me.”

“I kind of have to pinch myself every day. I do not take it for granted,” he said. “I was 100% confident I would not get a shot at the job — because that would be insane.”

Trebek died three years prior from pancreatic cancer and had been the trivia show’s emcee since 1984.

Jennings also looked back at how his wife, Mindy, gave him confidence when he was first filling in Trebek’s shoes.

“She’s always been like a real reassuring presence for me. Like the first day I was filling in for Alex, I called home, and she said, ‘Well, how did it go?,’” the “100 Places to See After You Die” author gushed.

“And I said, ‘Well, let me put it this way: I am not Alex Trebek up there.’ And she said, ‘Well, you know what? Maybe on his first day, he wasn’t either.’ And I really needed to hear that right then,” he continued.

While Jennings has his hands full with hosting, he doesn’t think he’ll ever compete again in the near future.

He also joked that he’s a little afraid to get back on the show’s stage because of his friendly feud with fellow “Jeopardy!” champ, James Holzhauer.

Jennings noted: “Let me be very clear and on the record here: It’s because I’m terrified of playing James because I think he would win.”

“I’m very happy to be retired from ‘Jeopardy!’ because I think I got away with one in the GOAT tournament,” he said, adding that Holzhauer “would just wipe the floor with me if we had to play again.”

“So I feel very lucky to be retired — ain’t gonna be no rematch.”