Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings apparently has to 'watch his back' this fall.
Ryan Seacrest will take the reins as the new host of Wheel Fortune in September. He's Pat Sajak replacement as the notable long-time host said goodbye after 40 years on June 7. A Sony Television insider claimed to The U.S. Sun that things will get "ugly" for Ken if the numbers for the trivia game show drop in comparison to Wheel of Fortune.
They also shared that the two shows have been "evenly matched" in ratings and popularity but the audiences they draw are different. The American Jeopardy! fans "typically come from bigger cities, while Wheel pulls more from middle America."
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Continuing to talk about the perceived positive effect Ryan will have on the show, the source continued: “He's bringing a sense of youth and urgency to the job that is a lot harder to pull off than it looks, and Wheel is bound to get a bump in the numbers once his episodes start running in September
“My advice to Ken is that just because Mayim is out of the picture doesn't mean he shouldn't watch his back."
The source made a final warning for the host and about one pitfall he should avoid.
They warned that Ken shouldn't take the Jeopardy! audience for granted, as it would "the worst possible thing he could do right now" as Ryan is set to come and change the Wheel franchise with "his Top-40 radio sensibility and unflappable optimism".
Ken became the sole permanent host of Jeopardy for season 40 after a lot of firings and guest hosts after the late Alex Trebek passed away from pancreatic cancer in November 2020.
In 2021, then-executive producer Mike Richard and Mayim Bialik were assigned double duty as hosts to succeed Alex. Mike was fired after one day of hosting after bigoted, derogatory comments he made about marginalized groups on his podcast resurfaced.
Then Ken Jennings took over with Mayim in July 2022 as dual host but Mayim was let go in December 2023. Jeopardy showrunner Michael Davies explained claimed the reason behind this was to ensure more "consistency" on the long-running show.
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