![]() Now that you’ve got $13,000, I’m sure you’ll want to make it another true Daily Double.” But I’m not seriously suggesting they make that wager. You’ll hear me say things like, “You made it a true Daily Double in the first round when you only had a $1,000. So if you’ve landed on what should be an easier Daily Double clue, why not take a chance? But I try not to influence contestants’ wagers. And that is, if a clue is in the second box from the top, it’s going to be easier than a clue at the bottom of the category. I have been disappointed when contestants made conservative wagers because they don’t realize the obvious. And you can also seem disappointed when contestants wager conservatively. When you say you want the contestants to be all they can be, does that ever extend to trying to influence them to bet big on Daily Doubles? It sometimes seems as if you do. And if the show does well, by association I do well. And if you want to be a good host, you have to figure a way to get the contestants to - as in the old television commercial about the military - “be all you can be.” Because if they do well, the show does well. That’s why I’ve always insisted that I be introduced as the host and not the star. The stars of the show are the contestants and the game itself. What about fitting into the role of Jeopardy! host? Is there an art to that? Frank Sinatra told me he was a fan of the show. And once I’d achieved a certain degree of popularity, I would play in celebrity golf tournaments and meet stars. I met people that way I didn’t have to go out on my own. And Burt Sugarman, who produced the very first show that I hosted here, The Wizard of Odds, introduced me to the backgammon-playing community. So Richard would invite me, and his being there to introduce me to people made me comfortable. We met, and because he threw a lot of dinner parties at the Bistro, an “in” restaurant in Beverly Hills at the time, he often needed single guys to fill out the table. There was a man named Richard Gully, who had been a publicist for Jack Warner. A friend of mine, Alan Hamel, who is married to Suzanne Somers, had come to California before I did, and I always thought, He fits right into this society. Do you remember the gender dynamics as being markedly different back then? You were single in Hollywood in the ’80s. She had the power.” That’s a very important scene. This is making me think of a great scene in a movie with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore - I can’t remember the title.ĭisclosure! Michael Douglas’s character is explaining to his wife about the situation between himself and Demi Moore’s character, who had been his lover a long time ago. And young men are not the only ones who are a problem. I don’t think youth is always an acceptable excuse. I said, “But there are guys out there - young guys are stupid in their teens.” There’s nothing stupider than a teenage boy. I said, “My gosh, this has got to be a scary time for men.” I’m fortunate that I’ve never been in a position of power where I might be able to lord it over somebody sexually. ![]() You know, when the #MeToo movement started, I had discussions with the staff during production meetings. But I don’t mind surprising people in that way.Īt least it’s a relatively benign surprise. And audiences are always surprised when they discover that I like to fix things around the house, that I’m not a nerdy person who spends all his time researching information that might come in handy on Jeopardy!. I do - because they’re written on a sheet of paper in front of me. People think because I’m the host of a fairly serious, intelligence-based quiz show that I must know all the answers. I’ve learned that people draw conclusions that satisfy their prejudices, and those conclusions don’t always coincide with reality. Does knowing what qualities viewers project onto you give you any insight into the public’s relationship with television? ![]() There are people watching Jeopardy! who assume that you already know all the facts being presented - even though the show actually doesn’t provide evidence for that. “It should, and will, go on after I’m done.” ![]() It’s even harder to imagine Jeopardy! without him - for us anyway. “The decision will be out of my hands.” After 35 years as the host of Jeopardy! it’s hard to imagine that the 78-year-old Trebek, who caused fans’ hearts to skip a beat earlier this year when he suggested he might retire in 2020, won’t have a say in who eventually takes his place behind the lectern. “People ask me,” he says, “Who would you like to replace you?” He shrugs. Alex Trebek, dressed in a chambray shirt and blue jeans, walks into the plushly carpeted, book-lined study of his rambling Los Angeles home and plops down in an easy chair, draping a leg over an armrest.
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