CNN legal analyst Laura Coates, whom Alex Trebek picked as one of his favorites to succeed him, says Jeopardy! rejected her as a guest-host

TheWrap

Coates tells Tamron Hall she was shut down when she reached out to producers as they were auditioning potential Trebek successors. “I asked for the opportunity when it came time, when they were looking for people to possibly fill in,” she told Hall. “I certainly raised my hand and knocked on doors and found them closed. I asked for the opportunity. I was told, ‘No.'” Trebek first mentioned Coates' name in an interview with TMZ in 2018.