Alex Trebek chokes up on ‘Jeopardy!’ after contestant’s heartfelt message
Dhruv Gaur’s answer on “Jeopardy!” brought host Alex Trebek to tears Monday.
During the “Final Jeopardy” round, Trebek asked contestants for their answers. When he got to Gaur, the host paused, according to CNN affiliate WBAL-TV
“We love you Alex!” Gaur wrote on his answer, worth $1,995. In place of the word love, Gaur wrote a heart.
“That’s very kind of you, thank you,” Trebek said, choking up. The “wrong” answer cost left Gaur with $5.
Right before Gaur’s message, Trebek shared he was reentering treatment for pancreatic cancer, Gaur tweeted. Trebek announced his diagnosis in March.
“We were all hurting for him so badly,” Gaur tweeted. “When Final Jeopardy came up, I could’ve tried to puzzle it together, but really, just kept thinking about Alex.”
Gaur was glad he got to say “what everybody at the tournament was thinking.”
The other contestants announced last week they’re organizing a charitable play-along as well to raise money for pancreatic cancer research.
Since announcing the diagnosis, Trebek has worked to raise awareness about the disease.
He teamed up with the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition to make a video last month encouraging people to wear purple in November and help spread the word about the disease and its symptoms on social media.
Pancreatic cancer is often deadly and goes undiagnosed until late stages.
World Pancreatic Cancer Day is November 21.