Jeopardy! fans got a special holiday gift when they spotted the show’s longtime host Alex Trebeck sitting courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers game Christmas night.
The star, who is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, was among the stars at the game between the Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Camera’ showed Trebek among a bevy of other celebrities, including Kevin Hart and Trevor Noah.
Alas, the star power couldn’t help the Lakers, who lost to the Clippers by five points.
Alex Trebek, who is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer, was among the stars at the game between the Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers
Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek (right) was seen with his wife, Jean Currivan Trebek (left), at the Los Angeles Lakers game on Christmas night
Jeopardy! fans shared their excitement on social media and after spotting the host in the crowd.
‘Alex Trebek at the game and he looks good y’all!! Warms my heart,’ one user wrote.
One man wrote: ‘Alex Trebek at the Lake game. Cancer patient and all. Still hosting Jeopardy. Still going to Laker games. Amazing man. Hoping for a long, healthy remainder of life for him.
Pictured: The Los Angeles Lakers played and lost to the Los Angeles Clippers on a Christmas night game
One person compared to royalty, saying: ‘Alex Trebek looking good, what a king.’
Others sent prayers for his recovery and referred to Trebek as an ‘icon’ after several years as the show’s backbone.
Trebek first revealed his battle with cancer in a YouTube video shared in March and vowed to fight the disease.
Jeopardy! fans shared their excitement and support for Trebek on social media
One man wrote: ‘Alex Trebek at the Lake game. Cancer patient and all. Still hosting Jeopardy. Still going to Laker games. Amazing man. Hoping for a long, healthy remainder of life for him’
One person compared to royalty, saying: ‘Alex Trebek looking good, what a king.’
‘Now, just like 50,000 other people in the United States each year, this week I was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer,’ he said.
‘Now normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working.’
Trebek then joked that he was contractually obligated to host Jeopardy for another three years.
‘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,’ he continued,’ he continued.
Before this latest health scare, Trebek underwent brain surgery in 2017 and was admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
He was suffering complications after hitting his head during a fall a month prior.
Trebek (pictured) announced that he was diagnosed and battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March 2019
Trebek then began chemotherapy, later revealing that he was ‘near remission’ with his stage 4 pancreatic cancer and his tumor shrunk by at least half in May.
He told People Magazine: ‘It’s kind of mind-boggling. The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory.’
‘Some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.’
In addition to medicine, Trebek credits his recovery to the continual love and support of his fans.
‘I’ve got a couple million people out there who have expressed their good thoughts, their positive energy directed towards me and their prayers,’ he said.
‘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.’
‘I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that.’
He also revealed that battling the deadly disease sometimes left him feeling a ‘deep, deep sadness’ as the stomach pain can be excruciating.
‘I’ve had kidney stones, I’ve had ruptured disks, so I’m used to dealing with pain, but what I’m not used to dealing with is the surges that come on suddenly of deep, deep sadness, and it brings tears to my eyes,’ he told Good Morning America.
‘I’ve discovered in this whole episode, ladies and gentleman, that I’m a bit of a wuss, but I’m fighting through it,’ he said.
At one point, Trebek admitted that he’s’ ‘not afraid to die.’
He told CTV: ‘The thought of the pancreatic cancer does not frighten me. As I told somebody the other day, one thing they’re not going to say at my funeral, as a part of a eulogy – “He was taken from us too soon”.’
Trebek: ‘Now normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working’
As a result of his medicine, Trebek said his eyesight ‘get’s a little messed up’ and he’s begun getting joint pain.
In August, Trebek said he’s completed chemotherpay and will resume filming the 36th season of Jeopardy! as planned.
‘I’ve gone through a lot of chemotherapy. Thankfully, that is now over. I’m on the mend and that’s all I can hope for right now’ Trebek said.
‘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.’
‘I’ve got a lot of love out there headed in my direction and a lot of prayer, and I will never ever minimize the value of that,’ he finished.
Instead of writing in his question, the Tournament of Champions contestant wrote: ‘We love you, Alex!’. Gaur had bet $1,995 of his $2,000 on the answer – meaning he threw away his shot at a win in favor of honoring Trebek
As a testament to Trebek’s influence in popular culture and Jeopardy!, a contestant intentionally forfeited $1,995 of his $2,000 winnings during the Tournament of Champions competition.
Instead of writing the correct answer, Dhruv Gaur used that time to let Trebek know he was thinking of him.
‘We love you, Alex!’ the sign read during the competition.
Gaur later explained the heartwarming moment in a series of tweets online.
The contestant later took to Twitter to say he had no regrets and was just saying what everyone else was thinking
‘Sorry for west coast spoilers, but I’m really glad I got the opportunity to say to Alex what everybody at the tournament was thinking,’ said Gaur, who is studying at Brown University.
‘For context, Alex had just shared with us that he was reentering treatment for pancreatic cancer. We were all hurting for him so badly.
‘When Final Jeopardy came up, I could’ve tried to puzzle it together, but really, just kept thinking about Alex, and thought he should know.
‘I’m just very grateful I got the opportunity to say what I know everyone was thinking. Sending all the love. #weloveyoualex’.
Just days before that, a Teen Jeopardy! champion donated $10,314 of his winnings to a Oregon cancer center in an effort to honor his ‘hero.’
Gupta continued: ‘I’m honored to be able to make this donation to the Knight Cancer Institute to support him and the millions of other people suffering from Pancreatic cancer across the world’
Ari Gupta donated the money to Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute.
‘I was inspired to give by Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy! and somebody I have looked up to my whole life,’ Gupta said.
‘I’m honored to be able to make this donation to the Knight Cancer Institute to support him and the millions of other people suffering from Pancreatic cancer across the world,’ he continued.