“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek announced in a video posted Thursday that he has completed chemotherapy and has already returned to work on the show’s 36th season.
“I’m on the mend,” he said, “and that’s all I can hope for right now.”
Trebek, who turned 79 last month, disclosed his late-stage pancreatic cancer diagnosis in March, when he addressed “Jeopardy!” viewers in his usual steady, comforting tone: “Now, normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging,” he said at the time, “but I’m going to keep working, and with the love and support of my family and friends — and with the help of your prayers, also — I plan to beat the low-survival-rate statistics for this disease.”
In May, he provided an update by telling People magazine that in a “mind-boggling” development, his body had responded well to chemotherapy. Some of his tumors had “already shrunk by more than 50 percent,” he said, adding that doctors told him he was in “near remission.”
“I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed toward me and their prayers,” he continued. “I told the doctors, this has to be more than just the chemo, and they agreed it could very well be an important part of this.”
Trebek has become a fixture in many American households over the years, as he began hosting the daily syndicated version of “Jeopardy!” in 1984. For doing so, he has earned a Peabody Award and six Daytime Emmys, the latest one this past May. The show, which will return Sept. 9, has aired more than 7,000 episodes in those 35 years.
As Trebek pointed out in Thursday’s video, “Jeopardy!” has recently experienced a surge in popularity due to the striking success of contestant James Holzhauer — known to fans as “Jeopardy James” — who came close to surpassing the earnings of “Jeopardy!” legend Ken Jennings.
At the end of the video, Trebek teased the upcoming season.
“We have some exciting things coming up, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you,” he said. “Let me tell you, it’s going to be a good year.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
