Skip to content

Rodgers studied for 'Jeopardy!' hosting gig 'like no other'

Dylan Buell / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Aaron Rodgers isn't taking the opportunity to host "Jeopardy!" lightly.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback will serve as a guest host on the show for two weeks, replacing longtime host Alex Trebek, who died at the age of 80 in November following a battle with cancer.

Preparing for the gig was no easy task for Rodgers.

"I watched hours and hours and hours of episodes," Rodgers told ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "Luckily Netflix has a few seasons, and I went back to DVR. But I had to watch from a different perspective - from Alex's perspective. I couldn't watch it as a fan anymore.

"I took pages and pages and pages of notes. I wrote down every affirmative that he said to any type of clue. I wrote down how he would respond if they didn't get it right. I wrote down beat points of the show. I wrote down all the different ways he would take it to break. I wrote down the stuff that he said coming out of break. Literally, I studied for this like no other. I wanted to absolutely just crush it."

Rodgers filmed his 10 episodes over two days in January along with the other guest hosts. He anticipates some "viral moments" to come from his appearances.

"Just wait until you see the first show and what the returning champion wrote, and then think about me standing at the podium watching - and this will make sense when you see what he wrote - and I'm watching him write this down," Rodgers said. "For about 25 seconds, I'm watching him write this, and he thinks about the answer and says, 'F--- it,' basically, 'I'm going to write this answer,' which, probably one of the viral moments of my two weeks will be his response, which is taking a shot at something that happened to us late in the season.

"But it was unbelievable as the host, I'm watching him and going, 'I can't believe I'm watching him write this.' It was pretty amazing."

Rodgers' first episode airs Monday, April 5.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox