{"id":13489,"date":"2018-08-06T14:44:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T18:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=13489"},"modified":"2018-08-06T14:46:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T18:46:59","slug":"alex-trebek-shocks-fans-news-potential-retirement-successors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/08\/alex-trebek-shocks-fans-news-potential-retirement-successors.html","title":{"rendered":"Alex Trebek Shocks Fans With News of Potential Retirement, Successors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wikimedia<\/a>
Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the first time in almost 40 years, \u201cJeopardy!\u201d might be getting a new host. Alex Trebek, who has hosted the iconic game show since 1984, has hinted that he may not be renewing his contract when it expires in 2020. According to Trebek, his chances of continuing with \u201cJeopardy!\u201d were \u201c50\/50, and a little less.\u201d The loss of the 78 year old host would fundamentally alter the trivia show and set off a massive hunt for a replacement that could mimic the steady delivery Trebek uses to keep the lightning-fast trivia show humming along.<\/p>\n

Trebek\u2019s retirement has been predicted repeatedly in the past only for him to renew his contract when it was ready to expire. Each time, fans of \u201cJeopardy!\u201d have attempted to predict who would succeed the long-time host. Now, however, Trebek has made his own suggestions on who he thinks should be his successor, and the names are not ones any fan would have predicted.<\/p>\n

Trebek named two potential replacements, and the two people he tapped were as surprised as \u201cJeopardy!\u201d fans that they were on Trebek\u2019s shortlist. The first person Trebek named was Alex Faust who is currently the play-by-play announcer for the NHL\u2019s Los Angeles Kings. Trebek\u2019s second pick was CNN\u2019s legal analyst and on-air personality, Laura Coates. Both Faust and Coates took to Twitter to express their shock and gratitude that Trebek would consider them for the position. Faust tweeted that he was \u201cflattered by Mr. Trebek\u2019s kind words,\u201d and Coates said that she was \u201cincredibly honored and humbled\u201d that Trebek thought she would be a good host. She also stated that her children \u201csaw him say this and now think I\u2019m a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Faust and Coates were highly unexpected and a departure from the sort of successors fans have long been predicting. The most commonly expected replacements named by fans were sportscast and radio host Dan Patrick, former \u201cJeopardy!\u201d contestant Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen and CNN host Anderson Cooper.<\/p>\n

As Trebek\u2019s contract does not end for another two years, there is plenty of time for fans to speculate about who will be his successor. That is, of course, assuming that Trebek decides to retire at all. He might well decide to continue hosting \u201cJeopardy!\u201d for a bit longer. It would not be the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time in almost 40 years, \u201cJeopardy!\u201d might be getting a new host. Alex Trebek, who has hosted the iconic game show since 1984, has hinted that he may not be renewing his contract when it expires in 2020. According to Trebek, his chances of continuing with \u201cJeopardy!\u201d were \u201c50\/50, and a little…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[546,2979,3755,3349],"class_list":["post-13489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrities","category-television","tag-jeopardy","tag-retirement","tag-trivia-show","tag-tv-show"],"yoast_head":"\nAlex Trebek Shocks Fans With News of Potential Retirement, Successors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Alex Trebek has stated that he may be leaving the show in 2020. His suggested successors were complete surprises to fans.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/08\/alex-trebek-shocks-fans-news-potential-retirement-successors.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex Trebek Shocks Fans With News of Potential Retirement, Successors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Alex Trebek has stated that he may be leaving the show in 2020. His suggested successors were complete surprises to fans.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/08\/alex-trebek-shocks-fans-news-potential-retirement-successors.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-06T18:44:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-06T18:46:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephanie Hertzenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/files\/2018\/08\/Alex_Trebek_2012.jpg\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alex Trebek Shocks Fans With News of Potential Retirement, Successors","description":"\u201cJeopardy!\u201d host Alex Trebek has stated that he may be leaving the show in 2020. 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