Over the more than 35 years he’s been hosting “Jeopardy,” almost nothing has fazed Alex Trebek. Not when contestants get too aggressive with the buzzer, or give him cheeky answers, or don’t know the prime minister of his native Canada.
But on Monday’s show, Trebek — who is undergoing treatment for cancer — got emotional when he read one particular Final Jeopardy answer. It came from contestant Dhruv Gaur, a 2018 college champion on the show who attends Brown University.
Gaur clearly didn’t know the answer to the final question (spoiler: “How the Other Half Lives”) so he used the opportunity to pay tribute to Trebek instead, by writing: “What is ...we ♡ you, Alex!”
Watch Trebek’s reply around the :20 mark:
“That’s very kind, thank you,” Trebek says, his voice cracking as he informs Gaur that his touching but incorrect answer leaves him only with $5.
Trebek has been fighting stage 4 pancreatic cancer since March. He previously revealed that he had spent some tapings of “Jeopardy” writhing in pain on the floor.
After chemotherapy, Trebek seemed back on the road to recovery but announced in September that he has to go through another round.
Monday’s touching moment prompted a reaction from “Jeopardy” fans everywhere, and #weloveyoualex took over Twitter.
Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ont. and attended the University of Ottawa before moving to the U.S. in the 1970s.