‘Jeopardy! contestant Dhruv Gaur sat down with Ellen DeGeneres and revealed the story behind his sweet message that had host Alex Trebek choking back tears.
Jeopardy! contestant Dhruv Gaur has become a viral sensation ever since used his Final Jeopardy answer on Nov. 11 to send host Alex Trebek, 79, a heartfelt message. “We love you, Alex,” Dhruv wrote as his answer. The college student sat down with Ellen DeGeneres, 61, and explained the sweet gesture. The episode was shot in mid-September right after Alex had publicly announced that he was going to start chemotherapy again for his pancreatic cancer.
“He had come back actually to the green room and talked to the contestants who were on the tournament, and we could really tell it was tough for him,” Dhruv said. “So when I got up there, obviously, I wasn’t going to win the game or anything so I was like I could try to figure out the right answer or I could do something for this person who might need it right now.” Dhruv’s message brought Alex to tears. “Thank you. You’re very kind,” Alex told Dhruv.
Dhruv previously won $100,000 during the College Championship in 2018 on Jeopardy! and he revealed that he used most of the money to pay for his Brown University tuition. He also took 20 of his friends out to eat and paid for all their meals. He admitted it’s been “really crazy” since his sweet note to Alex went viral.
Dhruv also said that he and other Jeopardy! contestants will be watching the Tournament of Champions and will donate one dollar to The Lustgarden Foundation to support pancreatic research for every question they get right. At the end of the interview, Ellen donated $25,000 toward pancreatic cancer research. Alex was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in March 2019. He has continued to host Jeopardy! while undergoing chemotherapy treatments.