Contestant interviews on Jeopardy! can vary from entertaining to extraordinarily awkward, significantly in relation to repeat winners who must current some new enjoyable truth about themselves with every subsequent look. However for many who aren’t a fan of that section, you’re not alone as a result of it’s even host Ken Jennings says it’s his least favourite a part of the present.
Jennings not too long ago took half in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Something) on the platform’s trivia subreddit.
In a single remark, a consumer complimented the 51-year-old for the way in which he manages to make “even probably the most mundane, awkward contestant bio story charming and relatable.” Because of him using his trademark humor and wit, the consumer identified, the contestants appear to be put extra comfy.
Nonetheless, when requested for strategies for approaching such interactions and making them look straightforward, Jennings dropped the bombshell that he finds the entire thing to be “cringe.”
“Gonna confess that I by no means favored the interviews as a viewer,” he defined. “Too cringe too typically! We didn’t have DVR so I couldn’t skip them as a child. Needed to go to the kitchen to get a pop as a substitute.”
Although, as he’s now a former contestant, Jennings says he now has an awesome feeling of heat for the contestant interviews.
“It’s not the gamers’ fault we cease the sport and make them chat about nothing!” he reasoned. “They don’t seem to be skilled speak present visitors! So I attempt to make that a part of the present as clean as I probably can, for viewers like me who additionally don’t prefer it.”
So far as tricks to apply his strategies into real-life conversations, Jennings stated that he doesn’t consider it boils all the way down to social IQ.
“I’m simply making an attempt to elicit their story in a cost-effective method, after which get out! That’s the alternative of excellent dialog!” he continued. “However I do genuinely pay attention, I attempt what I feel is my most encouraging smile, and I like a bit of follow-up query that’s not simply ‘OK! Love that for you! Subsequent!’”
He added that the issue was that, as a bunch, it’s a must to keep away from asking a follow-up query which may launch the contestant into one other lengthy monologue, “as a result of then the producers and individuals who must edit the present get mad at me.”
Jennings grew to become the only everlasting host of Jeopardy! in December 2023, following a search that had no scarcity of drama after lengthy operating host Alex Trebek handed away from stage IV pancreatic most cancers in November 2020. Among the many frontrunners had been Aaron Rodgers, Katie Couric, LeVar Burton, and former government producer Mike Richards, who was appointed host however lasted only a week as a result of fan outrage.
Jennings initially shared the duties with Mayim Bialik, till she formally withdrew in solidarity with Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA amid the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.
