- (sighs) "Jeopardy!" is iconic.
It's this legendary show.
Everyone loves it.
Everyone I know that's smart
and thoughtful and interesting loves "Jeopardy!"
Everyone I work with loves "Jeopardy!"
My family loves "Jeopardy!"
Of everything I've ever done in my career,
honestly, hosting "Jeopardy!"
is the thing I think people are most excited about,
and I am too.
I love the show. I admire Alex Trebek.
I see how excellent the staff is
and what they bring to the show,
how much heart, intelligence, precision, and care
is brought to this show,
and I just wanted to merit that.
I wanted to belong here for my moment that I'm here
and let them know how much I respect them
and how much I respect this place.
So that was my goal.
Well, I'm a huge fan of "Jeopardy!"
and I know I could never be a contestant
because I'm not very good at trivia.
So this was the closest I was ever going to get
to the "Jeopardy!" Stage,
so I had to jump at the chance.
I don't.
That's one of the regrets of my life.
I never got to meet Alex Trebek.
I would have loved to meet him.
But now that I've met all the folks
who worked with him so closely,
I know everything I've ever heard about him is 100% true.
He was a class act and a gentleman.
Well, I don't know if it was specific to "Jeopardy!"
because who could I talk to that had done this before?
Nobody.
But I think what I tried to do is do,
I tried to approach it like I approach my job,
which is to be prepared,
to study hard, to care a lot,
to work hard,
and I think that's what Alex Trebek did every day.
I really admire how much excellence he brought to it
even though he did it decade after decade after decade.
It seems to me he never slacked off,
it never got easy for him.
He always brought his A-game
and that's the spirit I was trying to emulate.
I chose The Bowery Mission,
which has been working with homeless and hungry families
since the 1870s in New York City,
and it's needed now more than ever.
I love The Bowery Mission
because it's about sharing God's love.
It's on a mission.
It is feeding the hungry.
It's about helping the poor.
People in their lowest moments,
The Bowery Mission says, "Come in.
We have a place for you to stay.
We'll help you get back on your feet.
You have a second chance.
You are loved. You are special."
That is the mission of The Bowery Mission
and I am so excited
not only to have these "Jeopardy!" winnings
to donate to them thanks to "Jeopardy!",
I'm also excited for people to learn about them
and to give them that exposure
and I hope that if it's in their hearts,
they'll give to The Bowery Mission as well.
I was very nervous.
Of course I was nervous.
It's a really hard job
and getting here did not make me any less nervous.
The more I knew about what was required,
the more nervous I was.
I think being a journalist working in television every day,
working in live television,
I think it helps because I'm used to being on camera,
so I didn't have those kinds of nerves,
but this is a different ballgame.
It's so different
from what we do on "The Today Show" every morning.
This was flexing a new set of skills
and then being thrown right into the big leagues.
So it was really challenging and really fun,
but it was hard.
It was really hard.
"Jeopardy!" and "The Today Show"
are, of course, really different.
"The Today Show" is a live news show.
It's four hours long.
We often have breaking news.
We don't know what to expect.
And when it's done, it's done.
You kind of just have to roll with it.
If you aren't perfect,
if you didn't say it perfectly,
there are no redos.
It's live television.
"Jeopardy!" is extremely precise.
A game is going on
and it has to be done with integrity.
You can't mess up.
And so, for me, that added an extra level of stress.
Plus, whenever you're starting something new,
I've been at "The Today Show" now almost 10 years,
so I really know the rhythms very well.
This is a brand-new place,
a brand-new type of show.
So I think there are some similarities in the skillset
but this was new and different and challenging.
Well, we have a senior producer at "The Today Show"
named Pete Breen
who loves "Jeopardy!"
and was so excited that he wrote me a big, thick memo
on how to host "Jeopardy!"
Everything he knew about "Jeopardy!",
he wrote down in a memo.
He was so excited.
The entire control room of "The Today Show"
is cheering right now.
I don't even know if they're paying attention to their jobs.
They're so excited about "Jeopardy!"
and they were really happy and proud of me,
which made me happy.
I think Al Roker
would be an excellent "Jeopardy!" contestant
because he's full of knowledge,
he's calm under pressure,
and he knows a lot of useless facts.
(crew laughs)
Don't wear high heels.
It's a lot of standing.
And, also, have fun.
It's a little stressful
but this is the best crew in the business
and they really carry you
with their expertise and their excellence.
They'll make you look good.
So have fun.
I really tried to think about the players
and the contestants.
This is their moment.
This show is about them.
It's not about the host.
It's about the game.
And so I really tried to keep my focus there
and show them a lot of love and enthusiasm
and cheer for them when they won
because that's what we all want to happen.