After 37 seasons, and over 8,200 episodes of Jeopardy, it's longtime host, Alex Trebek, has died. In March, 2019, Trebek announced to the world that he had stage four pancreatic cancer. He passed away peacefully at home on Sunday morning.
Alex Trebek was born in Canada, and proud of it. He mentioned it often on the show. He began is career as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. In 1966, while still in his 20's, he switched from journalism to hosting game shows. It wasn't until 1984 that Trebek landed his big break, when Merv Griffin chose him to emcee the revival of Jeopardy. Jeopardy was paired with Wheel of Fortune, and the two shows became a formidable block in the hour leading up to prime time. Trebek won five daytime Emmy Awards.
His longevity was reflected in a personal milestone, passing Bob Barker's appearances on The Price is Right, and becoming the person who had hosted the most game show episodes, in the Guiness Book of Records.
Trebek loved that Jeopardy popularized intelligence. Himself a very bright man, he was hands on when it came to clues. He reviewed every clue for each show.
For years, Ron and I watched Jeopardy religiously at night, often competing to see who could answer the most questions. Perhaps the most exciting period on Jeopardy was when Ken Jennings was on. People tuned in every night just to see if he'd win again. Alex Trebek always developed a rapport with the contestants, whether they were there for one night or 100 nights. Whoever thought it could be exciting to was nerds answer questions, most of which most people don't know the answers to?
Well, Alex Trebek made it interesting and exciting, and he will be missed. He was 80 years old.
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