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Alex Trebek’s death from pancreatic cancer back on November 8, understandably, has many people wondering about Jeopardy!’s legacy and how the show will continue. However the show ultimately proceeds, there are now numbers to put to how enduring the popular game show continues to be. According to Deadline, Trebek’s final telecast of the show on January 8 averaged 14 million total viewers.
Further analysis of the show’s final ratings under Trebek also indicate the week of January 4 was its most-watched to date with 11.1 million total viewers overall.
There are of course extenuating circumstances around these episodes, but these numbers represent the show’s largest audience since June 3, 2019–also known as the final episode of gambler James Holzhauer’s incredible winning streak of 33 episodes. Holzhauer’s run is second only to Ken Jennings, who has had an unprecedented 74 consecutive wins on the show. Therefore, it has not been a surprise that after Trebek’s death, Jennings has stepped in as interim host.
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Trebek was under contract to host Jeopardy! until 2022 at the time of his death. Many networks, public figures, and celebrities paid tribute to the host, who was a longtime philanthropist and activist. In summer 2020, Trebek released a memoir The Answer Is: Reflections on my Life–which came out less than four months before his death. Jennings narrated the audiobook version.
