Alex Trebek gets touching, nostalgic Jeopardy tribute for his final show
A new video that aired during Trebek's last episode honors him and his 30-year legacy as host of Jeopardy.
Jeopardy host Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home on Nov. 8, 2020.
Jeopardy honored former host Alex Trebek and his impressive legacy on the popular game show with a touching tribute video that aired at the end of Friday's episode. Trebek passed away in November 2020 from pancreatic cancer at age 80.
Trebek hosted the long-running Jeopardy series since 1984, and his contract was going to continue through 2023. New Jeopardy episodes hosted by Trebek continued to air through the beginning of 2021.
The new video shows Trebek throughout his 36 years on the show chatting with contestants and being his usual friendly self as Peter Allen/Dean Pitchford song "Once Before I Go" plays. The video ends with the message, "Dedicated to Alex Trebek: Forever in our hearts/Always our inspiration."
The day after Trebek died, Jeopardy paid tribute to him with another short video and a tweet that said, "Today we honor Alex Trebek. For over three decades he brought integrity, humor and intelligence to his duties as host of Jeopardy. He will be in our hearts forever."
In 2019, Trebek announced he'd been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer, but that he remained hopeful. "Normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this, and I'm going to keep working," Trebek said.
In January 2020, asked by Entertainment Weekly what he wanted to say on his final episode of Jeopardy, Trebek said, "I will say my goodbyes and I will tell people, 'Don't ask me who's going to replace me because I have no say whatsoever. But I'm sure that if you give them the same love and attention and respect that you have shown me for the past 30-odd years, then they will be a success and the show will continue being a success. And until we meet again, God bless you and goodbye."
Jeopardy producers are currently testing guest hosts while the show finds a permanent replacement for Trebek. Ken Jennings, one of the greatest contestants in the show's history, will be the first of a series of guest hosts. The episodes hosted by Jennings and other interim hosts will air starting Jan. 11.
