It’s hard to believe nearly five years have passed since we lost one of the greatest game show hosts of all time in Alex Trebek. Since then, we’ve settled nicely into the Ken Jennings era of Jeopardy!, with the game’s greatest champion bringing his inexhaustible knowledge as the host. There’s one thing, though, that fans would love to see from Jennings in the late host’s honor.
The Jeopardy! Instagram page kicked off spooky season with a post honoring Alex Trebek and some of the fun costumes he wore on the show over the years. From Kiss rocker Gene Simmons to a sad clown, this man was an “absolute icon,” as noted by omgitsbowtie in the comments. Check out the post below:
Alex Trebek took the game of Jeopardy! seriously, but the videos above prove he didn’t shy away from having a little fun. In addition to setting the mood for October and hopefully inspiring some viewers’ own costumes, this Instagram post also inadvertently reminded fans of how long it’s been since we’ve seen cosplay from our host. Instagram user winstondrawart commented:
What I wouldn’t give to see Ken Jennings do one of these on the Halloween episode 🤞🏻🎃
He wasn’t alone, either! Many fans of one of the all-time best game shows took the comments with similar requests, which included:
- I love this but it also makes me want to start a petition to see Ken Jennings in more costumes! – hannah.romero.21
- Alex has left a huge legacy including the many times he appeared in costume. We definitely need to see Ken do some dressing up too. – glenncooney
- Excited to see what Ken’s cooking up👀 – emma.nicole.g
- Ken Jennings, bring back the costumes! – ayeitsrj
- Can we get Ken in some costumes???!! – kl3pt0c4t
Looks like they’ve thrown down the gauntlet, Ken! Will you accept the challenge?
Just because Ken Jennings hasn’t dressed up in costume since he’s become the solo Jeopardy! host doesn’t mean he doesn’t have fun. He’s got no problem roasting himself — particularly his wardrobe on old 2004 episodes when he was in the midst of his 74-game win streak en route to becoming one of the biggest winners in Jeopardy! history.
He’s also a pretty good sport anytime his infamous “hoe-ment” gets a mention, which is probably more often than you’d think.
But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t love to see him dress up for Halloween, or in service of a clue he might be able to deliver. I have to think any guy into dad jokes as much as Ken Jennings wouldn’t be so hard to convince — especially since it would be a tribute to Alex Trebek.
I’m not sure how far in advance Jeopardy! episodes are taped, but hopefully Ken Jennings saw this post before the Halloween taping and had time to prepare a costume. We’ll certainly be keeping our fingers crossed.
Check your local listings to see when Jeopardy! airs in your area, or you can catch episodes streaming the next day with either a Hulu subscription or a Peacock subscription.