CNN legal analyst Laura Coates has claimed the producers of Jeopardy! prevented her from hosting the show, after late host Alex Trebek had handpicked her.
Coates said she offered the producers to guest-host the game show but they refused, despite Trebek publicly voicing his support for her.
“I asked for the opportunity when it came time when they were looking for people to possibly fill in. I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed,” Coates said on the Tamron Hall Show, according to the Independent.
“I was told ‘no,’ which is one of those moments when you have to remember to wear your own jersey.”
She added: “You have to remember to continue to be your own champion in other respects, and sometimes the vision that you have for yourself — or those that surprise you, other people — don’t align with what happens, and that happened there.”
Reflecting on the moment Trebek had first mentioned Coates alongside Alex Faust as two potential replacements, Coates said: “I was thrilled when he said my name, and I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this person that I have watched my whole life, really, even knows my name — let alone thinks that I would be worthy enough to fill his shoes, which frankly can’t be filled.’”
The show’s producers are yet to comment on Coates’ claims. This story will be updated accordingly.
At the end of last year, Jeopardy! champion Arther Chu claimed the show’s producers had not been “respectful” of Trebek’s wishes about his successor.
Speaking to Newsweek, Chu said: “I was rooting for Ken Jennings as host out of solidarity as a fellow former contestant, and because it really seems like he was Alex Trebek’s choice for a successor, hence Trebek giving him his cufflinks and having him narrate his audiobook.
“But ultimately most of what anyone would need to know to have an informed opinion is stuff that we’ll never find out about without someone leaking it from behind the scenes.
“I don’t have strong opinions on it other than that I think there’s some clear signs Alex Trebek’s preferred successor was Ken Jennings and it would have been more respectful to abide by his wishes,” he added.
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