‘Jeopardy!’ Announcer Johnny Gilbert, 92, Reveals Whether He Will Stay on After Alex Trebek’s Passing

Jeopardy! looks a whole lot different these days without Alex Trebek, but fans have taken comfort in longtime announcer Johnny Gilbert’s deep, gratifying voice announcing each new guest host. Now, Gilbert is speaking out about his future at the quiz show, which will see a new yet-to-be-named host next season following a string of celebrity guest hosts since Trebek’s death last November.

“It’s not easy for me because I worked with Alex for 37 years, and I never thought of anybody replacing him,” Gilbert, 92, told ABC News of his slight reservations of staying on as the voice of Jeopardy! “Nobody can do it like he did it, you know.” But ultimately, Gilbert isn’t ready to call it quits just yet and said he will return as long as the series will have him back when taping resumes in late July or early August for Season 38; he expressed reservations about the other side of his role — warm-up host.

“I’m not as young as I used to be,” he said. But Jeopardy! producer Mike Richards, who stepped in as one of the show’s fill-in hosts, quickly brushed aside the idea that Gilbert’s career was in anyone else’s hands but his own. “Johnny will be the announcer of Jeopardy! as long as he would like to be the announcer of Jeopardy!” Richards said. “I have told him that, and it’s just how he is, humble. He’s never taken the job for granted.”

Gilbert started at Jeopardy! in 1984 when he was hired for 13 weeks alongside Trebek. The rest is history, and he’s served as warm-up host for the studio audience and the show’s announcer for 37 years. During those years, he and Trebek developed a close friendship, one that ultimately helped Gilbert make the decision to stick with Jeopardy! after Trebek’s death.

“I thought, ‘Gee, can I go on doing this? Can I still do what the show needs?’” he told The New York Times in January. “And I decided, yes, I would go on. I would go on because Alex wanted the show to go on.” As for the first time he introduced a host who wasn’t Trebek, Gilbert said, “It was a very bizarre feeling. I have never thought of anyone as host of the show except Alex.”