Ken Jennings is a game show icon. Starting as one of the world recorder winners on Jeopardy, and later winning the “Greatest of All Time” tournament, Ken became a favorite competitor, making him the perfect fit to host the show after Alex Trebek died in 2020. With the news that Pat Sajak would retire from Wheel of Fortune, Ken admitted that he thought Whoopi Goldberg would make a good replacement host during an appearance on The View on Tuesday, June 13.
View co-host Alyssa Farah-Griffin asked Ken to weigh in on who he thought would be the best replacement for Pat after he retires. First Ken admitted that Pat was one of the best game show hosts around. “Pat’s a legend. Over 40 years, and the price of a vowel has not gone up one penny. Nobody controls inflation like Pat Sajak,” he said.
As Ken continued, he reflected on how Jeopardy took a long time to find a replacement host for Alex after his death, before landing on him and Mayim Bialik. “Jeopardy had its own succession crisis. Hopefully, Wheel’s got an envelope somewhere that says what to do when Pat packs it in,” he quipped. Joy Behar chimed in to reveal that Whoopi was interested in the job, and Ken clearly though she was a great pick. “Now we’ve figured it out!” he said.
After revealing that Whoopi would be a perfect fit on Wheel of Fortune, Joy again came up with a suggestion for herself and another one of her View co-hosts. “Sara [Haines] and I can be Vanna White. We’ll take turns walking back and forth, pointing to the letters,” she joked.
Pat announced that the next season of the game show would be his last, and he’d be leaving Wheel of Fortune after 41 years in a tweet on Monday, June 12. “Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!),” he wrote.