Ken Jennings’ Ricky Gervais Joke Is One Reason Why He’s Considered The Favorite To Be The Full-Time ‘Jeopardy!’ Host

A recent poll found that 70 percent of Jeopardy! viewers want Ken Jennings to become the full-time host of the game show, compared to only 30 percent for Mayim Bialik. With all due respect to The Big Bang Theory star, it should be an 100-to-0 split after the joke Jennings made during Wednesday’s episode.

The category was “Oh Me of Little Faith.” The clue: “This Derek star tweeted atheists were fighting again ‘over who doesn’t believe in any God the most… wait… that never happens.’” Mattea Roach, the Canadian contestant who paid off her student loans with her Jeopardy! winnings (she’s now up to a six-day total of $148,000), accurately answered, “Who is Ricky Gervais?” Instead of saying “correct” or “yes” or something along those lines, Jennings replied, “Yeah, I guess he’s an atheist, I had no idea.”

Gervais, who will find any opportunity to prove to you that God doesn’t exist, once wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal with the headline, “Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist.” It reads, “Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this.”

A clip of Jennings’ Extremely Online joke was posted on Twitter by Double Threat co-host (it’s a fantastic podcast) Julie Klausner, who tweeted, “Omg @KenJennings.” He responded, “I’m a bad widdle boy.” You might even say he was ‘aving a laff.