Ken Jennings Admits Wheel of Fortune's Pat Sajak Is 'More Fun' to Watch Than Late 'Jeopardy!' Host Alex Trebek

Ken Jennings has a deep respect for late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, but he admitted his own hosting style for the popular trivia show is very different.

During a recent appearance on the "Life Is Short" podcast, Jennings compared his personality to Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak.

"Alex was such a genius at being the host of ‘Jeopardy!’ you really cannot do better than that," he said. "But as a kid I was always like, 'Pat's more fun, Pat jokes around with the three people.'"

"I'm a little more of a Pat Sajak, where I'm like, if I say one more thing, please end it with a joke," he explained. "Whereas Alex was very much like 'OK, helium balloons, all right. How about you?' I want to make it less painful than it was for me as a viewer."

Trebek began hosting the quiz show in 1984 and helmed the role for a total of 37 season. However, in 2019, the beloved game show personality announced that he'd been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, later revealing that he planned to continue his work as long as his illness would allow.

Trebek passed away on November 8, 2020.

He was replaced by a series of guest hosts until Jennings and co-host Mayim Bialik were chosen to alternate filling the role.

Back in August, Jennings revealed that he spoke with Trebek the night before he passed away.

"We didn’t know," Jennings added, referring to the seriousness of his illness. "We thought ‘Oh he’s going to get better, he’s going to bounce back, he’ll be hosting again.' I was just going to fill in."

"We talked about the game, and, you know, he gave me the impression he always did over the years, which was that he did not want to be the center of attention on ‘Jeopardy!’" he continued. "Can you imagine anyone else in Hollywood saying, ‘Hey I’m on one of the biggest shows in TV, but it shouldn’t be all about me'?"

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Despite his stoic hosting style, Jennings also confessed that Trebek was more entertaining behind the scenes.

"During commercials he would tell jokes and go into the crowd, he loved to warm up the crowd himself and do little impressions," he said. "He was a very liked, funny guy, but, you know, he had to keep the show moving, because that’s the job description."