EYES ON THE PRIZE
Ken Jennings addressed Instagram comments calling him “kind of hot.”
Ken Jennings would like Jeopardy! fans to focus.
The host read and reacted to social media comments about him in a video he posted on the show’s Instagram page, and seemed surprised by how many fans were crushing on him.
“Hey, this is Ken Jennings here on the Alex Trebek stage,” he said in the video. “They say to never read the comments, but I’m going to break that rule right now, and I’m going to read some of your internet comments about me.”
He added, “This is a mistake,” before the compliments started to roll in.
“Ken Jennings is a handsome, cute, funny, smart, intelligent man. Too bad he is not part of my ‘family’ group. His wife is very lucky,” one said. Jennings reacted, “OK, why is family in quotes?”
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The next commenter wrote, “No, no, no, I don’t need other people finding out Ken Jennings is kind of hot. He’s my hear me out, damn it.” The phrase “hear me out” is internet slang for someone considered unconventionally attractive.
Jennings said flatly after chucking, “I’m her ‘hear me out,’ damn it.”
Jennings joked about what he thought were the show’s sensualized promotions when he posted comments about a Jeopardy! poster he said looked like “Jeopardy! but it’s one of those sex thrillers from the ‘90s starring, like, Stephen Baldwin.”
Former Conan O’Brien’s sidekick, Andy Richter, who’s appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! four times, joked in one succinct comment, “So hot.”
“He’s just kissing up,” Jennings said. “He wants to come back on Celebrity Jeopardy.”
The host later joked that the comments were getting “weird and weirder,” as one person wanted to know why the show’s clues didn’t include the niche internet romance trope “Omegaverse” in its pregnancy category.
Yet another nicknamed their cannabis vape pen “Pen Jennings,” and posted artwork of their shenanigans online.
“I really love those comments, and I love that we’re incentivizing people to send in weirder and weirder stuff in hopes that I will answer it live,” the host said. “This is an amazing use of social media.”
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