Alex Trebek, who hosted the quiz-show “Jeopardy!” for 37 years, passed away on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020, after a battle with pancreatic cancer, AP reported. He was 80. The official Instagram account for “Jeopardy!” said Trebek “passed away peacefully at home … surrounded by his family and friends.”
Trebek was public about his battle with cancer. On March 6, 2019, he announced, in a video posted to the official “Jeopardy!” YouTube channel, he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. In the video, Trebek said he still planned to host “Jeopardy!” while also saying he planned on beating the disease.
He even joked and said, “Truth told, I have to. Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host ‘Jeopardy!’ for three more years.” He finished his statement by saying, “So help me, keep the faith, and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”
Trebek continued to host during chemotherapy treatment. He hosted more than 8,000 episodes of “Jeopardy!” and in 2014, received the world record for hosting the most episodes of a single game show series, according to the New York Times.
Jess Smith, an alumna from California, said she heard the news from her uncle. “I was sad to hear it because he has always been such an icon, but I know he fought cancer for a while. It must be a relief for him and his family to be out of pain.”
Austin Zacher, a junior from Montana majoring in exercise science, said he was shocked when he found out about Trebek. “I actually heard about it on Instagram. Trebek is one of those icons where you are just in shock. Kind of the same feeling when Kobe died, like ‘Did this really happen?’”
After hearing the news of Trebek’s passing, Mariana Goulding, a BYU–Hawaii alumna from California, said, “I yelled, ‘No,’ out loud, and then got pretty upset. I just can’t imagine anyone replacing him.”
“Jeopardy!” brought families together
Trebek told New York magazine the reason he thought game shows did well because they avoided conflict.
“In this day and age, when there is so much societal tension, game shows are valuable because they’re pleasant,” Trebek said.
As she reflected on Alex Trebek, Kayli Whiting, a junior from Utah majoring in psychology, said, “Jeopardy!” brought her family together whenever it was on the television. “I watched ‘Jeopardy!’ growing up. My mom would always turn it on. She still does when making dinner during weeknights,” Whiting said.
She said she had memories of her family playing along with the contestants as they watched on television. Whiting said she remembers “all my family blurting out the answers and trying to see who could get more answers right.”
Smith said she loved “Jeopardy!” growing up and would watch it with her cousins and grandfather. “I was definitely a huge nerd and tried to learn as much random trivia as I could. My cousins and I would watch it with our grandpa, and we would all try to show off who could guess the most answers correctly.”
When she was around 9 years old, Smith said she was in charge of the lesson for family home evening and decided to make a “Jeopardy!” style game.
“I tried to make it as close to the real game show as possible, and I even made myself an ‘Alex Trebek’ name tag and got into character. I thought I was so clever. Like I said, I was a huge nerd, but he really was an icon in my life.”
Zacher said he remembered watching “Jeopardy!” with his father growing up. “I watched a bit. Mostly my dad watched it, so I watched it with him.” He said he would play alongside his brother when they watched the show. “It was always fun. I always tried to beat my brother and tried to get the most questions right.”
The future of “Jeopardy!”
In the aftermath of Trebek’s passing, Goulding said, “I just can’t imagine anyone replacing him. Does this mean we cancel ‘Jeopardy!’?”
Smith said she wondered how “anyone could possibly take over his role as ‘Jeopardy!’ host.”
Sony, who owns “Jeopardy!” has made no announcement concerning Trebek’s successor. However, according to AP, the show will continue to air the remaining episodes Trebek had taped until Christmas Day 2020.