Ken Jennings has some strong thoughts about a recent Jeopardy! advertisement.
The game show’s host took to Instagram to share his opinion about the poster being put up to promote the show’s latest season. The image showed half of Jennings’ smiling face with “Jeopardy!” written sideways in its signature typeface.
He posted a photo on Saturday, Sept. 19, of the image at a bus stop with the caption, “Jeopardy! but it’s one of those sex thrillers from the ‘90s starring, like, Stephen Baldwin.”
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Fans joined in on the joke.
One user commented, “Is there a dark side to Ken Jennings? I don’t think so. However, he did play a trivia villian on The Chase, so be careful with him. Hehehe.” While another follower wrote, “Your eye glint is a yin-yang of knowledge balancing evil.”
The poster is meant to promote the long-running show’s 43rd season, which debuted on Sept. 14.
Jennings became an interim guest host of Jeopardy! in January 2021 and the sole permanent host in December 2023. He holds the title for the longest regular-season winning streak and won the 2020 Greatest of All Time tournament.
In a 2024 interview with CBS, Jennings shared the joy he felt the first time he won.
“And I realize, ‘I’m gonna be a Jeopardy! champion for the rest of my life! And it was just an immediate rush of euphoria that, it’s hard to explain,” he said. “As good as the birth of my kids (I can say that now that they’re teens and outta the house). It was just an amazing moment.”
Jeopardy! recently won Outstanding Game Show at the 78th Creative Arts Emmy Awards in September, marking its seventh consecutive win in the category. Host Ken Jennings understands just how meaningful the beloved game show is to fans.
“The great and the odd thing about Jeopardy! is, it’s kind of universally popular,” he explained. “Old people like Jeopardy!, young people like Jeopardy!, red states, blue states. It’s bizarrely universal. America still agrees that there’s, like, a half-hour every day where facts do matter, and we are allowed to adjudicate things as right or wrong actually based on science and history. And I do think that’s an important bulwark.”