Laura Coates, Alex Trebek's 'Jeopardy!' pick, was turned down as guest host

CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates says that despite having been personally recommended by Alex Trebek as a future possible successor to him as "Jeopardy!" host, she was turned down by the game show's producers when they were choosing a wide list of fill-in hosts after his death in 2020.

"I actually was as shocked as anyone else was when he first said [it]," former Department of Justice prosecutor Coates, 41, who recently published the memoir "Just Pursuit," said Monday on the syndicated daytime talk show "Tamron Hall."

"I asked for the opportunity when it came time, when they were looking for people to possibly fill in," Coates said. "I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed. And I asked for the opportunity. I was told, 'No.' " A "Jeopardy!" representative did not respond to a Newsday request for comment.

On the July 30, 2018, edition of the Fox News Channel interview show "OBJECTified," host Harvey Levin asked Trebek, "Who would be a good, solid host of the show if you retire?" Trebek suggested Los Angeles Kings hockey sportscaster Alex Faust, and when asked, "What about a woman?," replied, "There is an attorney, Laura Coates. She's African American and she appears on some of the cable news shows from time to time. Very bright, very personable."

Coates had tweeted in response, "Incredibly honored & humbled @Jeopardy Alex Trebek 1) knows who I am 2) thinks I'd be a great host of my fave game show ever that I grew up watching w/ my family & still watch w/ my own kids (who saw him say this & now think I'm a genius)." Faust, who also was not chosen as a fill-in host, had tweeted at the time, "I'm flattered by Mr. Trebek's kind words, and delighted to hear he's a big @LAKings fan!"

Following Trebek's last recorded episode on Jan. 8 of last year, series champion Ken Jennings became the first of months of interim guest hosts that included broadcast journalists Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Savannah Guthrie, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton, sportscaster Joe Buck an actor Mayim Bialik.

"I never met him," Coates said Monday of Trebek, noting, "I'm a lifelong fan of 'Jeopardy!' … and I was thrilled when he said my name. And I thought, my God, this person that I have watched my whole life, really, even knows my name let alone thinks that I would be worthy enough to fill his shoes, which frankly can't be filled. And I was honored by it and I had a chance to thank him and also to reach out to him while he struggled with pancreatic cancer."

Trebek died of the disease on Nov. 8, 2020, at age 80.