‘Jeopardy!’: Pancreatic Cancer Was Not the 1st Medical Issue Alex Trebek Endured While Hosting
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek showed tremendous strength by continuing to host as he underwent chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Trebek used his ailment to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer, but that wasn’t the first time he’d powered through health crises. In the past, he kept them to himself.
Jeopardy! head researcher Suzanne Stone discussed her 38 years on the show in the June 29 episode of the Hollywood & Levine podcast. Stone revealed previous times Trebek sucked it up and continued hosting unbeknownst to the Jeopardy! viewer.
Before pancreatic cancer, Alex Trebek hosted ‘Jeopardy!’ through back and knee problems
Stone joined Jeopardy! in 1993. She already witnessed some of Trebek’s injuries, and how they never slowed him down.
“Early on, he had a bad back and a bad knee that he got from playing ice hockey with his fellow Canadian expatriates in Hollywood,” Stone said on Hollywood & Levine. “Things like that. He and I both had knee problems. I got knee replacements in 2010 and he was fascinated by knowing what it was all about. He wanted to check my scars and he said oh, my doctor says I need a knee replacement. He was a tough guy, physically tough.”
Alex Trebek hosted ‘Jeopardy!’ with a limp
It was at least 2015 before Trebek had the knee replacement surgery. And he still hosted Jeopardy! while in recovery and undergoing physical therapy.
“It took him about five or six years before he finally did have a knee replacement,” Stone said. “He persevered through that too and I knew what kind of pain he was going through, the kind of physical therapy he was going through. He did it. Once he walked out on that stage, you had no idea that he had a limp or that he had some pain and he did his job. He really was amazing that way.”
More Alex Trebek memories
Of course, Trebek was so much more than just a game show host. Stone shared her memories of working with Trebek on Jeopardy!
He really was an educator in many ways, very professional as a broadcaster. He started early in Canada and by the time I first met him in 83, he had very definite ideas about Jeopardy! He was the producer of Jeopardy! For the first several seasons and he set down the rules on writing and research. He was very strong about wanting things double checked, having a good research library. This was in the olden days before the Internet. Merv Griffin had a library packed up from his original Jeopardy! New York offices which we started augmenting and unpacking in 1984 in our offices in Hollywood. And we built it to a 7000+ volume research library. And then the internet came and we had to start changing our rules a little bit to allow high standards, but Alex was very, to literally his dying day as the host, he was very concerned about things being accurate, up to date and fair, and fair to all the contestants.
Suzanne Stone, Hollywood & Levine podcast, 6/29/22
