Alex Trebek had an emotional moment on the Nov. 11 episode of ‘Jeopardy!’ when a contestant sent him love in his answer for the final round of the game and fans were truly touched.
Alex Trebek, 79, was almost brought to tears when a contestant surprised him with some kind words on the Nov. 11 episode of his popular game show Jeopardy!. The memorable moment happened during the segment of the game known as Final Jeopardy in which contestants give their final answers to one last question in hopes of getting it correct and possibly winning overall. One contestant, Dhruv Gaur from Gainesville, GA, didn’t have a chance of being the ultimate winner due to his total earnings at that point in the game, so he decided to replace his answer to the final question with a loving message to Alex instead, and the outcome was quite powerful.
“What is We (heart) you, Alex!” the longtime host, who is currently battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, read when expecting to see Dhruv’s answer. The message clearly caught him off guard but he quickly responded by saying, “That’s very kind of you, thank you” before continuing to read Dhruv’s final earnings in a shaky voice.
The emotional part of the episode soon made its way around social media and fans of the show and of Alex shared their thoughts on Twitter with touching words and appropriate GIFs. “Alex Trebek trying to hold it together, but all of us are like: #Jeopardy #weloveyoualex,” one fan wrote along with a GIF showing actress Emma Stone crying while eating a pint of ice cream. “Alex Trebek getting choked up during Final Jeopardy today messed me all the way up. #Jeopardy #WeLoveYouAlex,” another fan tweeted. “Watching Alex Trebek get choked up during Final Jeopardy when a contestant burned his answer to share a special message, is more than I can handle tonight #WeLoveYouAlex,” a third fan wrote.
Fans and contestants of the show have showed tremendous support to Alex ever since he announced his cancer diagnosis in Mar. From wearing purple ribbons, which represent pancreatic cancer awareness, to sending him a lot of well wishes online and beyond, the Canadian, who has hosted Jeopardy! for 35 years, has seen a lot, giving him no reason to doubt the love many people have for him.
Although Alex’s type of cancer is known to only have a 9% survival rate, he has shown nothing but positivity since announcing the difficult news and immediately underwent chemotherapy. He responded very well to the treatment, according to an update by People in May, and “the doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory…some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.” He admitted to having a setback by Sept. though and had to undergo another round of chemo, but his hope hasn’t gone away. The optimistic star has vowed to host Jeopardy! for as long as he’s physically able to. “As long as I can walk out, and walking out is more of an effort now than it used to be, as long as I can walk out, and greet the audience and the contestants, and run the game, I’m happy,” he said during a Sept. interview on Good Morning America.
We’re sending well wishes to Alex during this challenging time in his life.