‘Jeopardy’s’ Alex Trebek contemplates retirement

There’s a good chance Alex Trebek will step down as “Jeopardy!” host once his contract expires in 2020.

Odds that the longtime host returns to the answers-and-questions game show are “50-50 and a little less,” Trebek said this week on Fox News’ “OBJECTified.”

The Canadian-born, Emmy-winning host has become an American institution since taking the helm of the syndicated trivia game in 1984. It’s hard to imagine the show without him (though some classic “Saturday Night Live” parodies might help), but the 78-year-old says he’s already considered replacements.

The front runner is another Alex: Alex Faust, the 28-yearold play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Kings, Trebek said. Faust inherited the role from retiring Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Miller in 2017.

Another option: CNN legal analyst Laura Coates.

Coates said on Twitter that she was “incredibly honored & humbled” that the host of her favorite game show knows who she is and that he thinks she would be a good host. After growing up watching it “Jeopardy!” with her family, she said, she now watches it with her kids, “who saw him say this & now think I’m a genius.”

Talk of retirement has been percolating since Trebek’s brief leave from the show at the beginning of the year for health concerns. The veteran TV personality underwent surgery in December to remove a subdural hematoma from his brain but made a snappy recovery, returning to his job less than a month later.