Jeopardy! Host Ken Jennings shares how Emma Stone can get on the show after years of applying

‘We would take her in a heartbeat,’ Jennings says

Ken Jennings said that Jeopardy! would take Emma Stone “in a heartbeat” but like other contestants, she still has to pass a test before coming on the show.

On a 22 January appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark, the former Jeopardy! champion turned host was asked by co-host Mark Consuelos if he had heard that the Poor Things star revealed she applies to go on the game show every year.

“Yeah, she wants to be on - and she doesn’t want to be on [Celebrity Jeopardy],” the 49-year-old host said to Consuelos. “She wants to be on real, original recipe Jeopardy! I mean, that’s a hard show.”

“We would take her in a heartbeat,” he added. Co-host Kelly Ripa then asked if there were some requirements - such as an audition - that Stone would have to meet before being selected to compete on the show. Jennings replied that the 35-year-old actor “would have to go through the same tests” as the other contestants.

“We no longer make people go to the mall or to a hotel to audition for the show,” he said, explaining that these days, prospective Jeopardy! contestants can audition online. “I think she might have a leg up, though. She’s probably pretty good on camera.”

While appearing on the Variety Awards Circuit podcast, Stone first revealed that it’s her dream to compete on the long-running game show. “I apply every June,” she revealed during the podcast. She noted that her goal was to challenge herself, “I don’t want to go on Celebrity Jeopardy! I want to earn my stripes.”

“You can only take the test once a year with your email address, and I’ve never gotten on the show,” Stone said, adding that she watches the game show “every single night” and keeps track of her answers for each question.

Besides actively campaigning to compete Jeopardy!, Stone is hot off of two recent awards season wins at the 2024 Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards for her performance as Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. The actor was also awarded a Globe as a producer on the film after it won for Best Picture in a Musical or Comedy at the 7 January awards ceremony.

“Yorgos, I don’t know what I could say to you that I haven’t said to you already,” Stone thanked Lanthimos during her acceptance speech at the Globes. “But I will forever be grateful that we met. Forever. And playing Bella was unbelievable.”

Stone is also nominated at the 2024 BAFTA Awards and the SAG Awards for her Poor Things performance. The movie is expected to receive multiple nominations at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards. Nominations for the awards ceremony will be released on 23 January.