‘Jeopardy!’ Producers Refused to Audition Alex Trebek’s Choice to Replace Him

Years before he died, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek had a vision for how the long-running game show could continue. In an interview less than a year before Trebek announced he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2019, the longtime Jeopardy! host revealed who he would like to be his successor, sharing how he would like the role to go to a woman and specifically named CNN Senior Legal Analyst Laura Coates, who did not even make it onto the roster of guest hosts brought on following Trebek’s passing. According to Coates, despite being named by Trebek as his chosen successor, she was told “no” by the show’s producers.

Speaking Monday on Tamron Hall, Coates opened up about not getting the chance to guest host the game show. After Trebek publicly named her as his ideal successor, Caotes said she was “as shocked as anyone else was when he first said it…and I was thrilled when he said my name.” Coates, a longtime Jeopardy! fan, added, “I thought, ‘My God. This person that I have watched my whole life really, even knows my name let alone thinks that I would be worthy enough to fill his shoes which frankly can’t be filled?”

Anyone who has kept up with the Jeopardy! hosting controversy knows that Coates never even made it onto the roster of guest hosts. As the long-running game show entered its first season without Trebek, it began the official search for its next permanent host, opting to bring on a series of guests hosts, and while Coates said she reached out to the show’s producers and “asked for the opportunity when it came time when they were looking for people to possibly fill in,” she was declined. Coates told Hall, “I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed. I asked for the opportunity. I was told, ‘No.’”

After Jeopardy! brought on everyone from LeVar Burton to Dr. Oz and even several past Jeopardy! winners, it was announced in August that executive producer Mike Richards would be brought on as a permanent host. Less than a week later, Richards announced that he would “be stepping down as host effective immediately.” Mayim Balik, who was originally named to host Jeopardy! primetime specials, and former contestant Ken Jennings have since stepped up to share co-hosting duties.

Coates told Hall that the last few have been a time “to remember to wear your own jersey…You have to remember to continue to be your own champion in other respects and sometimes the vision that you have for yourself, or those that surprise you – other people – don’t align with what happens and that happened there.”