Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek on Wednesday said he has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, but intends to fight the disease and keep working.
In a video posted online, the 78-year-old said he was announcing his illness directly to Jeopardy! fans in keeping with his long-time policy of being “open and transparent.”
He is among 50,000 other Americans who receive such a diagnosis each year, Trebek said.
Normally, the “prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I’m going to fight this, and I’m going to keep working.”
Trebek said he plans to beat the disease’s low survival rate with the love and support of family and friends, and with prayers from viewers.
He lightened the message with humor: He said he must beat the odds because his Jeopardy! contract requires he host the quiz show for three more years.
“So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done,” he said.
Trebek, a native of Sudbury, Canada, has been host of the quiz show since 1984. He and his wife, Jean Currivan, have two children.
Ken Jennings, a longtime Jeopardy! player who took part in the show’s All-Star Games that ended on Tuesday, posted a tweet in which he compared Trebek to the late TV journalist Walter Cronkite.
“I’ve said this before, but Alex Trebek is in a way the last Cronkite: authoritative, reassuring TV voice you hear every night, almost to the point of ritual,” Jennings wrote.
The show has yet to bring in a substitute host for him — save once, when he and Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak swapped jobs as an April Fools’ Day prank.
“There is no one I know who is stronger and more determined, and I would never bet against him,” Sajak said on Twitter. “We, and the entire country, are pulling for you, Alex.”
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