A debate moderator got booed in Pennsylvania this week. Who is Alex Trebek?

Back in July, “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek hinted that he may be leaving the show in 2020. Trebek has been a mainstay in American homes since began hosting the show back in 1984.

If he retires from “Jeopardy,” Trebek should probably avoid starting a new career as a debate moderator after a disastrous performance October 1st in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Trebek was the moderator for the Pennsylvania gubernatorial debate between incumbent Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and his Republican challenger, Scott Wagner.

According to the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll, Wolf is 22 points ahead.

Photo by marabuchi/Flickr

Trebek decided to forego traditional debate rules and instead have a “conversation.”

Trebek has been criticized for taking up large swaths of the 45-minute debate with long-winded soliloquies and meandering questions.

He took up valuable time to share his thoughts on the Catholic Church, which had nothing to do with the topics up for discussion. He started with a joke that inspired a round of boos. “The only thing with a lower rating in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the Catholic Church,” he said.

Undeterred, he continued to share his feelings about the church.

“I was born and raised in the Catholic Church and I’m just as ticked off as everybody else is over what has happened with the church,” he said. “When I was a young teenager I attended a Catholic boarding school run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.”

“Two-hundred and fifty students, other boys and I, spent three years sharing the same accommodations 24/7 with 44 priests and not once in those three years was there any sexual misbehavior,” he continued to no one’s amusement. “Now boys are pretty sharp, we talk, we would have known. So I believe that there are Catholic priests out there who are able to minister to their congregations without preying — that’s P-R-E-Y — on the young people.”

But Trebek did earn rave reviews from Steve Esack from The Morning Call.