Ken Jennings admires ‘Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars’ contestants: ‘They’re not just pretty faces’
‘Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars’ host Ken Jennings (Disney/Eric McCandless)
Celebrity Jeopardy! is back with a twist. This season’s tournament, Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars, sees past celebrity contestants returning for another shot at the Jeopardy! crown. In addition, the three previous champs — Ike Barinholtz, Lisa Ann Walter and W. Kamau Bell — head right to the second round for a chance to defend their titles.
Host Ken Jennings tells ABC Audio he admires any celeb who comes to compete because “they’re really putting themselves out there.”
“Anything can happen on the Alex Trebek Stage,” he says, noting that while the celebs may be playing for charity, they still want to win and make a good impression.
“You know, they don’t wanna go viral with a wrong response,” he says. “This is not SNL Celebrity Jeopardy! where we’re just throwing them a bunch of softballs. They have to know real facts and do it fast.”
While the celebrities take the competition seriously, there’s certainly a looser feel on set, which Jennings believes is because the stars are more comfortable in front of a camera than regular Jeopardy! contestants are.
“On Celebrity, if anything they’re too comfortable,” he says. “They’re having a good time. They’re joking around.”
Jennings says one perk for the celebrity contestants is they get to prove to the public just how smart they are and that “they’re not just pretty faces.”
“It does seem unfair, by the way, that they have pretty faces,” Jennings jokes. “Like can’t Jeopardy! be our thing? Like, can’t nerds have one thing?”
He adds, “I always get a little upset when someone very talented is also good at Jeopardy! Like, come on.”
Celebrity Jeopardy! All-Stars debuts Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will stream on Hulu the next day.
Actor Nicholas Brendon attends the 2012 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place on April 15, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/WireImage)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer actor Nicholas Brendon has passed away at the age of 54. The news was announced in a statement posted on Brendon’s Facebook page.
“We are heartbroken to share the passing of our brother and son, Nicholas Brendon. He passed in his sleep of natural causes,” reads the statement. “Most people know Nicky for his work as an actor and for the characters he brought to life over the years. In recent years Nicky has found his passion in painting and art. Nicky loved to share his enthusiastic talent with his family, friends and fans.”
“He was passionate, sensitive, and endlessly driven to create. Those who truly knew him understood that his art was one of the purest reflections of who he was,” the post continues. “Our family asks for privacy during this time as we grieve his loss and celebrate the life of a man who lived with intensity, imagination, and heart.”
Brendon rose to fame playing Xander Harris on all seven seasons of the hit WB series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan. He also had a recurring role on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds, and appeared in the short-lived Fox series Kitchen Confidential, based on the book by chef Anthony Bourdain.
Outside of TV, he appeared in several films, including the 2000 comedy Psycho Beach Party, which also starred Lauren Ambrose and Amy Adams, and the 2002 horror film Demon Island.
Brendon was frequently in the news for legal troubles: He’d been arrested multiple times, with his first arrest happening 2010. Charges he faced over the years included resisting arrest, battery, felony vandalism, malicious injury and more. He also dealt with substance abuse issues, and went to rehab for addiction to alcohol and sleeping pills.
Brendon is the second member of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer cast to die in recent years. Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s sister, Dawn Summers, passed away in 2025.
The Paramount Pictures logo is displayed on a water tower in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 17, 2026. (Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Stars from across Hollywood are expressing their opposition to the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance deal that rocked the entertainment industry earlier this year.
Jane Fonda, Don Cheadle, Rosanna Arquette, Ben Stiller and Joaquin Phoenix are just a few of the more than 1,000 Hollywood professionals who signed their names on an open letter expressing opposition to the studio merger.
“As filmmakers, documentarians, and professionals across the movie and television industry, we write to express our unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger,” the letter opens.
The note continues, “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it.”
According to a February release announcing the sale, Paramount plans to acquire Warner Bros. in a transaction valued at about $110 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Paramount will pay “$31.00 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of WBD.”
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, “subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances and approval by WBD shareholders, with a vote expected in the early spring of 2026.”
Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid in December to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, just days after Netflix struck a deal to purchase a large part of the media giant.
The letter from the stars of Hollywood cites some of the potential downsides of the deal as “fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.”
The letter also notes the merger leaves only four major studios remaining in the U.S.
The note, which is also signed by names like Mark Duplass, Javier Bardem, Ilana Glazer, Noah Wyle, Tiffany Haddish and Jason Bateman, summarizes some of the effects of studio consolidation.
“We have witnessed a steep decline in the number of films produced and released, alongside a narrowing of the kinds of stories that are financed and distributed. Increasingly, a small number of powerful entities determine what gets made — and on what terms — leaving creators and independent businesses with fewer viable paths to sustain their work,” the letter reads.
The letter also claims the consolidating media landscape “accelerated the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, the collapse of the international sales market, the elimination of meaningful profit participation, and the weakening of screen credit integrity.”
The group said they were “deeply concerned by indications of support” for the deal, which it says would harm the creative community and several of the small businesses therein.
“Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy,” the letter concludes, in part.
Along with the aforementioned signatories were names like Alyssa Milano, Ramy Youssef, Rosario Dawson, Mark Ruffalo, David Fincher, JJ Abrams, Kristen Stewart, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ted Danson, Rose Byrne and Denis Villeneuve.
Paramount responded to the letter in a statement to ABC News.
“We hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity,” the company said.
The statement also emphasized the “need for strong, creative-first and well-capitalized companies.”
The studio highlighted what it said are potential advantages to the deal, claiming Paramount will be able to “greenlight more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences at a truly global scale.”
Paramount noted its “commitment” to investing in the industry, with examples including “increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases.”
“Paramount remains deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences and the communities they live and work in,” Paramount’s statement concluded.
ABC News has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for any statement on the letter.
Michael B. Jordan accepts the best actor award at the 2026 Academy Awards. (Disney/Frank Micelotta)
Michael B. Jordan won best actor at the Academy Awards Sunday for his dual role in Sinners, becoming the sixth Black actor to take home the award.
Speaking backstage, he reflected on the honor and the balance between being ambitious and trusting the path meant for you.
“There is a selfishness in understanding that in your craft, in your industry, this is a pinnacle,” he said. “This is what our industry standard is, it’s what we put value on in a big way. That competitiveness, you do want that.”
At the same time, he said success comes down to timing.
“What’s for you is for you,” he continued. “And you can’t take anybody’s blessings away…So I’m just like walking my path, man, and just trying to be locked in.”
He encouraged actors and artists “to keep that in mind” during their journeys, to remain honest and continue dreaming big.
In Sinners, Jordan played twin brothers Smoke and Stack. To prepare, he imagined the history they shared after spending their whole lives together.
“Just imagine you being in a partnership for like 30-something years. How many times they would argue? How many times they would keep score on who’s right and who’s wrong?” he said, noting he built those layers so it could feel like they had a real history.
Director Ryan Coogler said he always believed Jordan was perfect for the role.
“I knew I had to call Mike,” he said backstage. “He ended up calling me before I got to him and asking me if I would be interested in something he was working on independently. And I told him it wasn’t the right time.”
He said Jordan got upset, forcing him to tell him about Sinners earlier than he intended. “Thankfully he said yes,” Coogler said.
Sinners also won the Oscar for best original screenplay.
