Four years ago today, we said goodbye to a true TV legend: Alex Trebek, the longtime host of quiz show Jeopardy!, died at age 80 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Current Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings took the opportunity to pay tribute to his predecessor, recalling the last time he saw Trebek host and the positivity he displayed at the end of his life.
Jennings, 50, was Trebek’s eventual successor as host of Jeopardy! and also got to know the longtime host back when he was a record-breaking contestant on the show, with an unbelievable 74 win streak in 2004.
Four years after Trebek’s death, Jennings shared a tribute to him on social media, remembering the last time he saw him host the show, sometime after Trebek had announced his stage IV pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
Alex Trebek Remembered
“It was shortly before the pandemic, and he had announced his cancer diagnosis, and he actually asked if I would come backstage,” Trebek recalled. “And I was a little bit apprehensive about this. I’d never been to his dressing room, as a contestant.”
Jennings remembered that, despite Trebek’s declining health, he was inspired by the outpouring of love and support he received from fans.
“He wasn’t feeling great that day. Often he would look and sound fantastic while doing the show, but he wasn’t in the best shape backstage, but he greeted me warmly, and I asked how he was doing, and I was really touched by how emotional he was about the outpouring of love he was getting from Jeopardy fans.”
“You would not believe just the tens of thousands of letters and notes and afghans and emails and everything that poured in. And he went through and read everything, and he said, ‘Ken, most people don’t get to hear the nice things about themselves, because people don’t say it until after they’re gone. They say those things at the funeral.’ He said, ‘I got to hear all those things while I’m still here,’ and it was just sweet how genuinely thoughtful and grateful he was for that opportunity.”
“It struck me then that maybe he had never thought much about how much he meant to people as a light entertainer, a quiz show host. He didn’t realize how important he was to people who watched Jeopardy! I remember giving him a hug, and maybe that was a mistake — I don’t know if Alex was a hugger — but it was just nice to be able to see him and think about how he thought about his life that way.”
“He didn’t realize what he meant to us, which was which was everything.”
Ken Jennings & Alex Trebek: Friendship
Jennings has said that he and Trebek did not spend a lot of time together outside the Jeopardy! set, as Trebek preferred to maintain a professional distance from contestants, but the two crossed paths frequently as Jennings became Jeopardy‘s most famous and successful contestant. Long after his still-record 74-game win streak, he frequently appeared on championship tournaments. In 2020, he beat out Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer in the primetime “Greatest of All Time” tournament, earning a million dollars and some major bragging rights.
Trebek announced his stage IV pancreatic cancer diagnosis on March 6, 2019. While he admitted the prognosis was not good and he had some bad health days, he continued hosting duties until his death in 2020.
Jennings was the first in a line of guest hosts after Trebek’s passing, but initially didn’t get the job, which was split between executive producer Mike Richards and actress Mayim Bialik. But past controversies led to Richards being fired and replaced by Jennings, who split hosting duties with Bialik until 2023, when he became full-time permanent host.
Rest in peace to the great Alex Trebek, who left us four years ago. While we miss him, Ken Jennings has done a great job carrying on as Jeopardy! host and respecting Trebek’s legacy.
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