Aaron Rodgers to guest host an episode of ‘Jeopardy!’

When it comes to football, Aaron Rodgers is one of the game’s most famous quarterbacks. But when it comes to trivia masters, he’s definitely not the first name that comes to mind. Regardless, the Green Bay Packers star has always been a huge Jeopardy! fan, and now he gets to take over hosting duties for one night only. 

The 37-year-old revealed the big news during a radio interview on January 12, confirming that he is one of the special guest hosts the series has lined up in the wake of Alex Trebek’s passing last November. “One of my idols growing up was Alex Trebek,” Rodgers told host Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show. “They’re doing some guest-hosting spots. It’s going to be released here pretty soon but I had the opportunity to do one of those… I’m excited about that opportunity.”

This won’t be Rodgers’ first experience on the game show. In 2015, he appeared on the Celebrity version of the series, where he took down Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary and Arizona senator Mark Kelly. At the time, the Super Bowl champ earned a $50,000 prize, which he donated to the MACC Fund (Midwest Athlete’s Against Childhood Cancer). As for those wondering how he’ll do reading out Jeopardy! answers on camera? Well that’s to be determined, but the athlete has expanded into acting in the past with bit-roles on shows like The Office, Key and Peele, and Game of Thrones, where he played an uncredited King’s Landing citizen. 

So far publicists for Jeopardy! have no comment on the news, which probably means they weren’t ready for, or expecting this announcement from Rodgers. It also means the show has been secretly busier filming guest segments than it has previously let on. This past week the series’ first official guest host, Ken Jennings (the only person to be confirmed for the role by the show so far), made his big debut. 

“Sharing this stage with Alex Trebek was one of the greatest honours of my life,” Jennings said on January 11 at the top of the show. “Not many things in life are perfect, but Alex did this job pretty much perfectly for more than 36 years, and it was even better up close. We were dazzled by his intelligence, his charm, his grace, really. There’s no other word for it,” he continued. “Like all Jeopardy! fans, I miss Alex very much. And I thank him for everything he did for all of us. Let’s be totally clear: No one will ever replace the great Alex Trebek. But we can honour him by playing the game he loved.”

RELATED: How Alex Trebek's passion for trivia made Jeopardy! so special

[video_embed id='2072984']RELATED: How Alex Trebek's passion about trivia made Jeopardy! so special [/video_embed]

So far no other guest hosts have been announced, but rumour has it former Today co-host Katie Couric will helm a week of episodes at some point. 

Trebek died on November 8 following a long battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Although he stayed active with the series right up until his final days on earth, he was always very careful about not revealing who he thought should take over his gig when he was gone. (Although he did once joke that his good friend Betty White would be stellar.)

“Ken stepped in and did a great job for us as a guest host. We will have a series of guest hosts throughout the spring,” Jeopardy! producer Mike Richards told Deadline following Trebek’s death. “The search [for a successor] is going very well, there are a lot of people very interested in hosting Jeopardy!, which is gratifying, and also appropriately reverent of the shoes they will be stepping into,” he added. “We have had some great conversations with people.”

In other words, what is stay tuned for more announcements, folks.

BEFORE YOU GO: Pandas munching on fruits and vegetables is the best thing on the internet right now

[video_embed id='2116876']BEFORE YOU GO: Pandas munching on fruits and vegetables is the best thing on the internet right now [/video_embed]