JEOPARDY!: Ken Jennings Blasts The Show AND Alex Trebek.

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'Jeopardy' champ Ken Jennings blasts show

NEW YORK - "Jeopardy!" ace Ken Jennings, who won $2.5 million during his 74-game winning streak, has a few unkind words to say about the show — and dapper host Alex Trebek.

"I know, I know, the old folks love him," Jennings writes in a recent posting, titled "Dear Jeopardy!" on his Web site.

"Nobody knows he died in that fiery truck crash a few years back and was immediately replaced with the Trebektron 4000 (I see your engineers still can't get the mustache right, by the way)."

Jennings also takes aim at the show's "effete, left-coast" categories and "same-old" format.

"You're like the Dorian Gray of syndication," he says. "You seem to think `change' means replacing a blue polyethylene backdrop with a slightly different shade of blue polyethylene backdrop every presidential election or so."

A call by The Associated Press to "Jeopardy!" spokesman Jeff Ritter was not immediately returned Tuesday.

Jennings, a software engineer from Salt Lake City, snagged 74 wins on "Jeopardy!" in 2004 before he was beaten by challenger Nancy Zerg.

Trebek, 66, has hosted the show since 1984. In a "correction" posted Monday on his Web site, Jennings offers an apology of sorts.

"We regret the insinuation that Mr. Alex Trebek is a robot, and has been since 2004. Mr. Trebek's robotic frame does still contain some organic parts, many harvested from patriotic Canadian schoolchildren, so this technically makes him a `cyborg,' not a `robot.'"

[All My Shadows]

WTF

Are you kidding me?

Well, I'd still do him. He's rich and he's not all that bad to look at.

[WTGH]

He shouldn't be one to talk, especially with the rumors that the head honchos of Jeopardy! told him on what subjects to read up.

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I HATE Sony-Owned/King World Distributed Game Shows. "Flashy" productions hosted by rude, tired-ass hosts.

[Bree]

Now Ken is saying it's all a joke, but he does have some cred as far as Alex Trebek is concerned. Quite a few contestants have said he is rude and cold between tapings. I'm surprised his bones don't break while trying to crack a smile.

Still, this man won gobs of $$$ and should he really be biting the hand that fed him?

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I say go for it. If he can exploit the situation to further his own career or have piece of mind, let him. After all, they exploited his success by adding him to DVDs and bringing him back so many flipping times.

As much as I would LOVE to see new people host WHEEL and JEOPARDY!(the two syndie queens), it ain't gonna happen as long as Harry Friedman is still in charge of overseeing production on both programs or unless the hosts retire or die.

[Shawn]

The guy sounds like an ungrateful bastard.

The show got him millions and fame, and he trashes it. He should shut the hell up.

[King]

LMAO! Good. I HATE Trebek!!!!!

[Ms. Walsh]

Alex Trebek is a jerk, but so is Ken Jennings. I wouldn't be surprised if they rigged the whole thing for ratings because they skyrocketed during that whole thing. Also, no matter what people think of Trebek, the show's ratings would plummet if they replaced him.

I agree that the show does have a tendency to run the same categories over and over again, but honestly...would you enjoy watching it if nobody was getting the answers, so that Alex could be a pompous ass about it and be like, "The correct question was, 'What is so-and-so?'"...b/c we know how much of a FRICKING genius Trebek is...especially since he has the answer on his damn cue card.

I hated it when Jeopardy! changed it's rules from a 5 game max because I wanted to go on the show and be a 5-day champion, so I could win those two Convertibles. I even put in my HS yearbook that my life goal was to be a 5-day champion on Jeopardy! I still want to go on.

PS. WoF is totally rigged! I always thought that Pat Sajak had a button that controlled the wheel. Any game show with a wheel is rigged...even the Price is Right IMO.

Also, Vanna White's job is useless. I mean, at least before, she'd actually have to turn the letters. Now, she just touches them...and she doesn't even have to do that! Sometimes they change on their own! I liked the episodes when Vanna and Pat switched places. She's a lot better than he is.

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That's true.

I think Ken Jennings's argument(no matter how comedic it was) is that JEOPARDY! is on a spiral of being "dumbed down" so they can repeat his success on the show. When, in all honesty, JEOPARDY! hasn't had a knock-down, drag out nerd war since the mid-90's. The Sushi-Bar set and new theme music really did the show in in terms of them trying to aim for the younger audience. Adding the Clue Crew certainly didn't help.

I see them probably going back to that in a few years. They just needed someone to upseat WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE's syndicated game show wins. Meredith Vieira's right: at least on HER show they blow out confetti, even if it is a multiple choice weenie quiz.

As a former contestant on that show, I would HOPE that isn't true. I always felt whenever I was spinning the wheel that everything was *completely* in my control. But it wouldn't surprise me. I thought other things were fixed as well.

I used to really like Pat Sajak...until I was a contestant.

Having been on a gameshow(especially one you watched since you were barely out of diapers), I can honestly say it's like finding out Santa Claus isn't real. At least being on THAT gameshow.

Knowing what to expect out of the whole process, I'd love to be on another gameshow.

I have as much knowledge and (used to have) respect for gameshows as I do about soaps. Except I don't really post on the Message Boards for them. They are fun to read though.

(P.S. I am ALL FOR an update of Wink Martindale's DEBT and Lifetime/PAX's SUPERMARKET SWEEP).