Alex Trebek Has Been Diagnosed With Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer

“Hi everyone, I have some news to share with all of you and it’s in keeping with my longtime policy of being open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fan base. I also wanted to prevent you from reading or hearing some overblown or inaccurate reports regarding my health. So therefore, I wanted to be the one to pass along this information.

Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Now normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and 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. Truth told, I have to! Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years! So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done. Thank you.”

Alex Trebek
Culver City, California
March 6, 2019

Fuck this shit, man. When I saw this news, it hit like a punch to the gut and shattered my heart. I’ve always played up my love of Alex Trebek on the blog because he’s been like a member of the family since he’s been invited into my living room every night 5 times a week for as long as I can remember. This video shows why he is such a beloved TV personality that has withstood the test of time and why I call him the Gameshow GOAT. I mean just look at the way he handled this whole situation. He could have easily kept this extremely personal news to himself. But instead he put on a brave face, remained open with his fans, and mixed in his signature Trebek humor despite an extremely serious and scary diagnosis (based on what I’ve read, Stage 4 cancer is as bad as it gets).

I know as you get older, a lot of the people you grew up watching or following pass on. But I’m not ready for Alex Trebek to leave us. Not even close. Luckily based on everything we know about him, like him recently battling back from blood clots on his brain, he’s gonna fight the shit out of this awful disease and do whatever he can to finish out that contract. And he knows there will be millions of people cheering him to “get it done”.

As always, #FuckCancer