‘Jeopardy!’ Staff Wowed by This Celebrity Host, Reportedly Saying He’s the ‘Best Guest Host’

With all the guest hosts that have gone through Jeopardy! so far, the topic could be a category of its own on the classic answer-and-question quiz show.

Since the death of long-time host Alex Trebek in 2020, his lectern has seen quite a revolving door of potential replacements.

Here’s the guest host that is reportedly standing out from the rest, at least to the staff of Jeopardy!

The guest host who kicked the new era of ‘Jeopardy!’ off

After Trebek’s death from pancreatic cancer in November of 2020, the show’s fans could not imagine anyone else possibly filling in the host’s longtime role on the program. From his start in 1984, Trebek had become synonymous with Jeopardy!

One contestant who practically became a staffer himself thanks to his incredibly long run as a player was Ken Jennings. In 2004, the Washington resident won 74 games straight and over $2 million dollars. In that time, unknown to Jennings, Trebek had developed a soft spot for the player who had become his daily companion.

It only made sense, then, that after Trebek’s death, Jennings was the most natural choice as the first guest host in January.

The father of two said at the time, “Like all Jeopardy! fans, I miss Alex very much and I thank him for everything he did for all of us. Let’s be totally clear, nobody will ever replace the great Alex Trebek; we can honor him by playing the game he loved.”

The ‘Jeopardy!’ guest hosts so far – and those to come

In addition to Jennings, among those celebrities that have filled in at Trebek’s lectern have been the show’s executive producer Mike Richards, former Today host Katie Couric, talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Couric explained to The New York Post in March why it was nice to visit the set of Jeopardy!, but she wouldn’t want to stay permanently.

“It’s pretty exhausting to do five of those in one day — just to make sure you’re pronouncing everything correctly,” she said. “They give you these complicated Latin terms. My daughters would’ve really crushed it, but I don’t really speak Latin … I’ve always marveled at the contestants. But this really made me appreciate and respect the contestants more than I already did.”

Rodgers’ stint on the show will be followed by visits from Anderson Cooper, Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, actor Mayim Bialik, 60 Minutes journalist Bill Whitaker and Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN.

Here’s the guest host that ‘Jeopardy!’ staffers reportedly like the most

According to Claire McNear, author of last year’s Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider’s Guide to Jeopardy!, the show’s staff has grown fond of one of the guest hosts that have come through.

In an article for The Ringer, McNear interviewed producer Richards and several of the program’s former contestants, as well as its staffers.

She revealed that, so far, Rodgers has impressed the most.

“The quarterback was, it seems, a hit, even with the staff,” McNear wrote. “Jimmy McGuire of the Clue Crew weighed in, says Lindsay Wilcox, one of the contestants who played with Rodgers. ‘He said Aaron Rodgers was the best guest host they had seen so far.’”

By all accounts, Rodgers is eager to be the new face of the quiz show. We’ll have to wait and see who eventually will be named permanent host, perhaps in a few months.