Alex Trebek officially holds the world record for hosting the most episodes of a game show. He has hosted over 6,000 episodes of Jeopardy and is planning to host many more. Jeopardy will begin its 31st season this fall and Trebek has been hosting the show since 1984.
Jeopardy was first aired from 1964 to 1979 and was hosted by Art Fleming. Trebek took over hosting in 1984 when the show was relaunched.
“It’s an honor to hold the Guinness World Record for hosting ‘Jeopardy!,’ which I’ve often said is the best of reality TV,” Trebek said in a statement.
There have been many rumors saying that Trebek is planning to retire as the host of Jeopardy, but Trebek says these rumors are not true.
“Everybody’s speculating on my retirement, and I don’t know why,” Trebek said. “It’s silly. Somebody asked me if I’ve given any thoughts to retiring. Well, yes, I’ve given thoughts to retiring…. Everybody assumes from my having said that, that he’s retiring. Well, no. I’ve been thinking about it. So allow me to think about it.”
VIDEO: @Jeopardy! star Alex Trebek sets record for most game show episodes hosted http://t.co/0RqfcC1tBc pic.twitter.com/Efxm1uwDdj
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) June 15, 2014
When Trebek retires it may be a big deal to some people, but he says that he does not want it to be a major television event.
“There won’t be any fanfare,” he said. “It’ll be like the time I shaved my mustache on a whim. I’ll just ask the director to leave me 20 or 30 seconds at the end of the program to say a few words and I’ll say a few words and thank people and be on my way.”
Until Trebek does finally decide to retire, he will continue to grow the record and make it even harder to beat.
Do you think Trebek will retire anytime soon and how long do you think he will hold the record?
Image via Wikimedia Commons