Jeopardy Host Alex Trebek Bashes Contestant In Resurfaced Clip
It’s been eight years since Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek shocked viewers by calling one of his contestants and her nerdy friends “losers”, and people still can’t get enough of the moment.
For a man who made his living off of a trivia game, it seems pretty counterproductive to call people in that realm a bunch of losers, but Jeopardy!’s Alex Trebek could get away with almost anything. People loved him, and his 37-season reign as host of the longstanding gameshow solidified his place in the hearts and minds of millions.
He did face a little backlash over the comment on social media, but the instance came far from ruining his reputation or career as the show’s host. Jeopardy! was Alex Trebek, and vice versa. If anything, it gave him an edge.
For a man who made his living off of a trivia game, it seems pretty counterproductive to call people in that realm a bunch of losers, but Jeopardy!’s Alex Trebek could get away with almost anything.
For those not familiar with the instance, here’s what happened. Legendary Jeopardy! host, Alex Trebek got a little spicy with one of his contestants back in 2016. When Susan Cole’s turn to be interviewed came up on the show, Trebek prefaced their little discussion with, “Your favorite type of music is something I’ve never heard of, but it doesn’t sound like fun.”
Trebek was referencing Susan Cole’s self-proclaimed genre, “Nerdcore rap.” The librarian contestant chimed in saying that she thinks it’s a lot of fun, and then she began describing the subject matter of said “nerdcore”.
There’s no question that Jeopardy! will never be the same now that Alex Trebek has passed…
While the Jeopardy! audience and Alex Trebek stood by, Cole offered up some suggestions saying “[Nerdcore is] rapping about the things they love … video games, science-fiction, having a hard time meeting romantic partners”. To which the Jeopardy! host, Alex Trebek, replied in quite a poignant tone, “Losers, in other words.”
It just so happened that Susan Cole was not a loser. Her run on Jeopardy! earned her $67,800 by the end of her three-episode winning streak, and Alex Trebek did exclaim that he was teasing Cole about her love of nerdy rap songs.
This isn’t the only off-color comment session Jeopardy! host, Alex Trebek had during his long run on the show. In one episode, he made a super insensitive remark about the death of a contestant’s pet goat. After the contestant explained that the goat died from eating a bag of concrete mix, Trebek replied with a question. “Was it a 60 or 80-pound bag?”
Susan Cole became a Jeopardy! champion, and earned $67,800 on the show.
Jeopardy!’s Alex Trebek also had an awkward moment with another contestant, Elspeth Green. During the interview segment of the show, Alex introduced Green as a graduate student who once trained a goldfish. After Elspeth explains how she used to train her goldfish to swim through a hoop, Trebek shakes his head, looks into the camera, and explains to the audience that sometimes they get some “weirdos” on Jeopardy!.
There’s no question that Jeopardy! will never be the same now that Alex Trebek has passed, but the unforgettable host left us with an array of savage moments, silly sayings, and loads of knowledge in the end. The good certainly outweighed the bad with Trebek, and his legacy is his steadfastness as host of America’s favorite quiz show.
