Denton County Living Well Magazine Summer 2014 | Page 10

You worked with Ruta on High Rollers in the 70’s. Can you
tell us about the chemistry that you two have on camera?
Well, I came to the United States in 1973 to host a show called
Wizard of Odds. That was replaced after one year with High
Rollers. They hired Ruta to be my co-hostess and to roll the
dice for the players. She was already a professional within the
Hollywood community, which I was not. I’d only been here for
a year. She brought that level of expertise, chutzpa, and establishment, if you will, that I did not have. I really felt more
comfortable having her there.
What does it take to be a good game
show host?
I think it takes the ability to listen
and to put yourself in a secondary position. When you’re hosting a game
show, you have to realize that the stars
of the show are the contestants and the
material. If you can focus on those two
elements then you will do well. You
have to be on the side of the contestants. The audience will pick up on that
very quickly.
I have never in all the time that I
have been hosting shows allowed the
producers to announce me as the star
of the show. It’s always, “Here is the
host of the show, Alex Trebek.” It’s just
a basic guiding principle that I’ve always adhered to.

When the show started in 1984, was there any feeling that
it could be a hit?
I never thought about it. I was just happy to be employed. I
liked the show. As a matter of fact, the same is true for all the
shows I’ve hosted. I was just always trying to do a good job. I
didn’t worry about whether it’s going to last a year, five years
or ten.
Besides intelligence, are there qualities that are common
amongst Jeopardy! champions?
I’m not sure you can generalize about
our champions. We have good people
who are very exuberant. We also get
people who appear to be very shy. We
get those who are great conversationalists, and others who are not good at
conversation. They are all bright.

Outside of Jeopardy!, what other
passions do you have?
Well, I like to fix things. I work a lot
around the house.
We’ve also gotten even more involved with charity work. I’ve been
associated with World Vision for 30
years now. A couple of year ago, we
adopted a village in Zambia and built
two or three school buildings, built a
medical facility and free homes for
Alex and Ruta Lee on High Rollers
staff. Also, we drilled eight wells. The
whole village of about 1,700 had the
What TV hosts out there do you
same dirty water hole where cattle
think are doing a good job?
were drinking. Now the people have wells functioning throughWell, I don’t watch that many talk shows anymore so I’m not out the village.
really a good judge. Bill O’Rielly is very good, although he is
There’s another charity I’ve been working with called Wonstrongly opinionated. I love late night television. I think Jimmy derWork. They help children with cleft palates, and for chilKimmel is ex