SARA Haines has shaded Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings as she revealed her favorite Chase contestant to viewers.
Ken, 49, was a regular on The Chase before leaving the ABC quiz show to start his full-time Jeopardy! hosting position.
Twitter/Buzzer BlogSara Haines shaded Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings as she let fans know her favorite Chase contestant to viewers[/caption]
GettyKen was a regular on The Chase before leaving the quiz show to start his Jeopardy! hosting gig[/caption]
The Chase host Sara, 45, made the confession while promoting the game show on Thursday’s episode of The View.
The morning show co-host announced: “It’s Thursday, so that means The Chase is back!
“Now tonight is the queen, Victoria, taking her throne.”
She then admitted, somewhat tentatively: “She is my, I hate to say this out loud—I don’t know if I’m allowed to—my favorite Chaser ever.”
The star immediately hid her face after making the personal confession but just as quickly emerged from cover to continue gloating about Victoria.
Sara stated that Victoria is “fierce and amazing” and that her favorite contestant is one of the smartest women “around the world.”
The 45-year-old panelist concluded: “She’s a fast quizzer and she’s awesome.”
Ken exited the show in March 2020 after joining notable Jeopardy! faces James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter when the program debuted in 2021.
KEN’S THOUGHTS
Last month, Ken weighed in on Pat Sajak’s unexpected retirement news from Wheel of Fortune while appearing on The View.
The 74-time champion-turned-host did not shy away from Jeopardy!’s own host selection scandal post-Alex Trebek during the appearance.
Before American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, 48, was announced as the new Wheel of Fortune lead, Alyssa Farah Griffin mentioned Pat’s retirement and who Ken thinks should replace the longtime star—who has been hosting the show since 1981.
“Well, Pat’s a legend. Over 40 years and the price of a vowel has not gone up one penny,” Ken said at the time.
“No one controls inflation like Pat Sajak.”
Ken then admitted that the two-year-host hunt for the late Alex’s replacement, who passed away in 2020 from pancreatic cancer, was not cut-and-dry.
“But that’s an interesting question.
“Jeopardy! had its own succession crisis,” he stated.
“Hopefully, Wheel has got an envelope somewhere that says, ‘What do when Pat packs it in,’” he joked.
Ken did not name names for who he thought might be a good replacement, but Joy Behar spoke up and said: “Whoopi wants to do it.”
“I want that job!” Whoopi declared.
“Well, there you go, we figured it out,” Ken joked.
“I think it would be lots of fun,” Whoopi said.
SCHEDULING CONFLICT
Earlier this month, Jeopardy! legend James, 38, took to Twitter to shade ABC for shortchanging The Chase compared to Jeopardy!
The 32-time winner called out the network for not scheduling his game show to air directly after Jeopardy! Masters did in May.
The blog BuzzerBlog first posted about how ratings for The Chase are up.
They tweeted: “Most interesting thing was the giant increase for The Chase.
“It was up 25% in the 18-49 demo from last episode and up nearly 60% in total viewers.
“It’s still a shame that The Chase wasn’t paired with Jeopardy Masters.”
James then buzzed in, agreeing that The Chase – which airs at 9pm Est on Thursdays and kicked off its third season on June 29 – got a raw deal.
The champ snarkily implied that since he’s a Chaser on The Chase and won the $500,000 Jeopardy! Masters crown, doing so would have been a no-brainer.
He quote tweeted: “If only those two shows had some commonality that would suggest a shared fanbase.”
HARD TO CHASE DOWN!
The Chase is a quiz show that sees teams of three contestants attempt to win money by challenging a quiz expert- or Chaser.
This season sees fan-favorite quiz professionals as Chasers on the show, including Brad, James, Victoria Groce, Brandon Blackwell, and Buzzy Cohen.
Each contestant must try and stay ahead of the quiz expert by answering as many questions as possible before the Chaser gets a turn.
The contestant will go through individual rounds to help fund their team and later go head-to-head with one of the five Chasers.
However, unlike Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, which famously air back to back, The Chase is couched between Kelly Ripa‘s Generation Gap and Press Your Luck.
Twitter/Buzzer BlogThe Chase host revealed that contestant Victoria Groce might be her ‘favorite Chaser ever’[/caption]
ABCThis season of The Chase sees quiz professionals Brandon Blackwell, James Holzhauer, Victoria Groce, Brad Rutter, and Buzzy Cohen competing for the grand prize[/caption]
GettyKen appeared on The View last month to discuss the sudden retirement announcement of Pat Sajak and weigh in on who should take his place[/caption]
