A number of new guest hosts have been announced for the game show “Jeopardy!” Savannah Guthrie, Anderson Cooper, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join a growing list of famous hosts – including Katie Couric, Aaron Rodgers, Bill Whitaker and Mayim Bialik.
As part of each television personality’s time on the show, the money will be donated to a charity of their choice – amounts equal to the total earnings of the contestants in the weeks they appear.
“We hope that each guest host will bring their unique skills to the program and to our competitors by earning a lot of money that we can match for charity,” said executive producer Mike Richards.
After longtime host Alex Trebek died of pancreatic cancer last November, rumors spun possible replacement. The winner of “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time”, Ken Jennings, was chosen as a consulting producer and later announced as an interim presenter. He did his “Jeopardy!” opens on January 11, and Richards is expected to follow him as a host for a short time.
The dates of the famous hosts’ presentations, along with the names of the charities, have yet to be confirmed. Of the new line of stars, only CNN’s Cooper had ever appeared on the show as a competitor in his Power Players Tournaments.
A permanent host has not yet been announced.