Jeopardy! Host Ken Jennings Responds to Emma Stone Wanting to Compete on Game Show

Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings has a response to Emma Stone’s campaign to compete on the game show. In short: while Jennings would love to have Stone on the show, he is unwilling to give her any special treatment: 

“Yeah, she says she wants to be on and she doesn’t want to be on [Celebrity Jeopardy],” Jennings said while recently appearing on Live With Kelly and Mark. “She wants to be on real, original-recipe Jeopardy. I mean, that’s a hard show.”

Jennings also quickly added, in no uncertain terms, that “We would take her in a heartbeat.”

That said, Ken Jennings isn’t cutting Stone any special celebrity treatment – she’ll have to earn her place on Jeopardy! in the proper way: 

“I think she would have to go through the same tests,” he said. “Our viewers can, if they want to be on the show, they can try out from home. You can take a test online and then do a Zoom audition. We no longer make people go to the mall or to a hotel to audition for the show.”

While he couldn’t speak to how she’d do on the show, Jennings was confident about one quality Emma Stone would have as a contestant: “She’s probably pretty good on camera.”

Emma Stone is currently riding a high wave of awards season recognition. She already won a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Poor Things, with the film also winning a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Stone also received a Golden Globe nom in the category Best Actress – Television Series Drama, for the Paramount+ TV series The Curse. As of writing this, Emma Stone has just received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in Poor Things, with heavy odds that she’s a frontrunner favorite to win. 

She’s also apparently a Jeopardy! mega-fan; Stone recently told Variety’s Awards Circuit that she watches it every single night and I mark down how many answers I get right.” Stone isn’t just an avid Jeopardy! viewer, either: she revealed that “I apply every June” to be on the show, but that, “You can only take the test once a year with your email address, and I’ve never gotten on the show.”

Ironically, Stone generated pretty big returns during her recent hosting gig on SNL, where she performed in a sketch called “Question Quest,” which had a mock version of Jeopardy! that offered some pretty wild prizes. Stone looked pretty natural up there with a buzzer in front of her, so she’s probably ready for the challenge. 

Poor Things is now in theaters.