It’s come to Vulture’s attention, mere days after international treasure Alex Trebek tragically died after a battle with stage-four pancreatic cancer, that certain people of certain ABC News fame have already begun lobbying to become Trebek’s Jeopardy! replacement. There’s also this upsetting list that was just published by sports-betting websites, which, somehow, considers a current Bachelor host, a former Glee star, and a podcast jerk to be viable candidates for a man who was a lifelong champion for celebrating knowledge, humanity, objective truth, and mustaches. To put it in the form of a question: What is, absolutely not? All 30 clues on Jeopardy!’s board know that Ken Jennings, the certified greatest of all time, is the only worthy successor to Trebek, and we’re writing this post because Jennings is way too nice to say it himself.
But don’t take our word for it. Jeopardy! has been tacitly grooming Jennings for greater things over the past few months, with the GOAT joining the show this season as a vague “consulting producer” who gets free rein over presenting special video categories, developing projects, and collaborating with writers on clues — in addition to regularly being featured in episodes. In fact, when Vulture asked Jennings earlier this year about his interest in one day becoming Trebek’s replacement, he was pleased that fans considered him to be the natural successor. “It’s very flattering,” he responded, “because I’m such a huge fan of the show.” Everyone else, please just buzz away.
