Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings will be the first person to step behind the podium next week as he takes on the guest host role for the first time since longtime host Alex Trebek‘s death. But his place there may not be permanent, a source told E! News as fans of the game show look towards its future. Jennings, who won 74 consecutive Jeopardy! games in 2004 and was dubbed the “Greatest of All Time” last year, was announced as the show’s first guest host just days after Trebek died of pancreatic cancer in November.
Following Trebek’s final taped show on Friday, E! News reports that Jennings has taped six weeks of the show, which began airing on Monday, Jan. 11, and that other guest hosts are expected to take the reigns after Jennings, but no additional names or dates have been announced. Multiple sources added that the situation is “fluid” when it comes to the hosting job, with one insider telling the outlet that the search for a permanent host continues, and will likely continue until the spring. They noted that “while Ken is a very capable host, there are concerns that he may not be the right personality to be the face of the long-running show.”
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Jennings has drawn controversy recently over resurfaced offensive tweets that made headlines after he was named the first interim host. On Dec. 30, he apologized for the things he had tweeted over the years, but Jeopardy! has not addressed the controversy publicly. “Hey, I just wanted to own up to the fact that over the years on Twitter, I’ve definitely tweeted some unartful and insensitive things,” he tweeted. “Sometimes they worked as jokes in my head and I was dismayed to see how they read on screen.”
He continued, “In the past, I’d usually leave bad tweets up just so they could be dunked on. At least that way they could lead to smart replies and even advocacy. Deleting them felt like whitewashing a mistake. But I think that practice may have given the impression I stand by every failed joke I’ve ever posted here. Not at all! Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t matter: I screwed up, and I’m truly sorry.”
