It was a long and messy road to get there, but when Jeopardy! announced that Ken Jennings would be joining Mayim Bialik as the official hosts of the classic quiz show, many people saw it as the Jeopardy! GOAT finally ascending to his rightful place behind the lectern following Alex Trebek’s death in 2020. And while we now know that Jennings and Trebek had spoken about the former contestant stepping in as host — at least temporarily amid Trebek’s battle with pancreatic cancer — a resurfaced Jeopardy! clip seems to prove that the hosting icon had thought about that succession plan years before it was necessary to put one into action.
A Jeopardy! fan happened upon an episode from 2014’s Battle of the Decades, in which Ken Jennings had returned to compete against 44 other former champions. There was inarguably a lot of talent to cross the stage over those five weeks, but Alex Trebek made an interesting comment to Jennings, as this fan pointed out:
