Trebek Disses Reege

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/13/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek may have never given away a million dollars, but that's no reason to think that his show is anything less than the ratings phenom "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." In fact, Trebek told journalism students at the University of Georgia over the weekend that "Jeopardy!" is better than "Millionaire" in one big respect: It asks tougher questions. "You have to wonder about some of the contestants on that program," said Trebek, who imitated a typical exchange between "Millionaire" host Regis Philbin and an imaginary player. (Question: "What's the usual color of Post-its?" Answer: "Uhhhhhh.") "Granted," Trebek added, "our money is nowhere comparable to those other shows, but so what? People on our program . . . are there for the glory." He also noted that Reege has been on "Celebrity Jeopardy!" three times -- and came in third place every time. So far, there's been no comment from Regis, who's very busy these days counting his money.