*Inquiring minds want to know who will replace Alex Trebek — who died Sunday after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer — as host of “Jeopardy!“?
Back in 2018, Trebek dropped two names to take over hosting duties for him.
According to Newsday, “one was Alex Faust, a 31-year-old Brooklyn native and play-by-play voice for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. The other was CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates, 40, who responded at the time, via Twitter,” the outlet writes.
Coates said she was “Incredibly honored & humbled [Trebek] 1) knows who I am 2) thinks I’d be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I’m a genius).”
READ MORE: Alex Trebek Loses Battle to Pancreatic Cancer At Age 80
“Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings is also a possible name in the running for host of the long-running game show.
“Jeopardy!” syndicator Sony said in a statement Sunday that Trebek’s successor will not be named “at this time.”
In his memoir, “The Answer Is … Reflections on My Life,” Trebek wrote: “You could replace me as the host of the show with anybody and it would likely be just as popular. Hell, after thirty-six years with me, it might even be more popular.” Elsewhere in the book he noted, “It doesn’t matter who’s the host … There are other hosts out there who can do equally as good a job as me. I think Jeopardy! can go on forever.”
On Monday, CNN host Anderson Cooper fondly remembered appearing on “Celebrity Jeopardy!”, noting that “Trebek really was the perfect host,” Cooper said. “He was smart, he was funny when it was called for, he was decent, he was confident enough to know he didn’t need to make the show about him.”
Trebek, who had been the host of Jeopady since 1984, had been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer since announcing the news back in March 2019. He immediately started chemo after the diagnosis but made no plans to retire and continued hosting his game show.
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