'Jeopardy' Star Ken Jennings Is Forbidden From Appearing on 'Wheel of Fortune'
Ken Jennings is one of the most famous Jeopardy! contestantsof all time. Even years after his record-breaking streak on the show, Jenningsshowed up for the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time tournament to provethat he’s stillthe best.
The game show fame has inspired fans to wonder if Jennings would ever use his skills to play some other television games and win even more money. But if the 46-year-old former software programmer does have his sights set on winning more cash and prizes, it won’t be on Wheel of Fortune. That’s because he’s forbidden from appearing on the show now.
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Ken Jennings is forbidden from appearing on ‘Wheel ofFortune’
Even though Jennings could make a killing on Wheel of Fortune, you won’t see him joking around with Pat Sajak anytime soon. That’s because there’s a little-known rule that Jeopardy! contestants cannot appear on Wheel of Fortune and vice versa. Since they are both sister shows, that’s just the rule to follow, Mashable reported.
But even if he were allowed, Jennings wouldn’t necessarilyhave the same success anyway. The two shows require vastly different skills andJennings most likely wouldn’t do as well on that format of game show.
Alex Trebek and Pat Sajak switched places once
Knowing that the two are sister shows helps explain oneinteresting event from April Fool’s Day 1997. That was the day Sajak showed upto host Jeopardy! while Trebek surprised fans on Wheel of Fortunewhen he hosted alongside Sajak’s wife, Lesly.
Both hosts are known for running their respective game showsfor decades. But that doesn’tmean they’re friends. “We get along fine,” Sajak said of Trebek, “but we’renot in the same bowling league.”
Ken Jennings tries not to act like a know it all
Even though he’s been crowned the best of the best, Jenningspromised he doesn’t want to act like a know-it-all, even if he does have braggingrights.
“I’m self-aware enough that I realized it wasn’t cool toknow everything or to appear to know everything or to be pedantic. It’s reallya personality trait that I find unappealing in others. So, I really try to dialit down,” he said.
But one thing that changed was openly advertising his triviagenius. “I kind of spent my whole life in the closet,” Jennings continued, “asfar as not feeling comfortable being a trivia person because it seems a littlebit embarrassing. If nothing else, winning that first time on Jeopardy!kind of busted me out of that closet, and I’m most famous for being a triviageek no matter what else I do now.”
Will Ken Jennings host ‘Jeopardy!’ when Alex Trebek retires?
Jennings became so famous on Jeopardy! that some fansassume he’s poised to become the next host of the show when Trebek retires. Buthe’snot ready to think about that yet.
“It’s very flattering because I’m such a huge fan of the show,” Jennings said. “To even think about that would require imagining a version of Jeopardy! without Alex, and I’m not emotionally prepared to do that at any point.”
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