On Sunday, the legendary “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek passed away at the age of 80 following a long battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. On Thursday, Trebek appeared in a pre-taped episode of the game show in which a contestant became emotional as he thanked him for all that he had done in his career.
Burt Thakur shared an emotional moment with Trebek before he went on to win the episode of the show.
“You know, here’s a true story. I grew up… I learned English because of you,” Thakur said. “My grandfather, who raised me — I’m going to get tears right now — I used to sit on his lap and watch you every day. So it’s a pretty special moment for me, man. Thank you very much.”
Alex's impact is immeasurable. Thank you for sharing, Burt! pic.twitter.com/XgGGwJ8GlH [1]
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 6, 2020 [2]
After his winning episode aired, Thakur took to Twitter to say, “To win something money can’t buy was an indescribable experience. To be in such a diverse contest makes me proud to be an immigrant and an #American. If you watched me, will you take a bit of my smile and joy & share that with someone? We could all use a @Jeopardy #Jeopardy.”
To win something money can't buy was an indescribable experience. To be in such a diverse contest makes me proud to be an immigrant and an #American [3]. If you watched me, will you take a bit of my smile and joy & share that with someone? We could all use a 🙂 @Jeopardy [4] #Jeopardy [5]
— Burt Thakur (@BurtThakurTX) November 6, 2020 [6]
Thakur also honored Trebek on social media after his death was announced.
“When with proud joy we lift Life’s red wine up,” he said. “To drink deep of the mystic shining cup, And ecstasy through all our being leaps— Death bows his head and weeps. I am overwhelmed with emotion right now and my heart goes out to the Trebek family. #Jeopardy #alextrebek @jeopardy.”
When with proud joy we lift Life's red wine up
To drink deep of the mystic shining cup
And ecstasy through all our being leaps—
Death bows his head and weeps.I am overwhelmed with emotion right now and my heart goes out to the Trebek family. #Jeopardy [5] #alextrebek [7] @jeopardy [4] pic.twitter.com/klFwYw9Cau [8]
— Burt Thakur (@BurtThakurTX) November 8, 2020 [9]
CBS News [10] reported that Trebek announced that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March of 2019, and despite the bleak diagnosis, he never missed a single day of work.
“I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one,” Trebek said in an emotional video at the time. “There were some good days, but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me, the chemo treatments will.”
Trebek said in May of 2019 that “it wouldn’t be right” for him to walk away from the show that he’d hosted since 1984.
“It wouldn’t be right for me to walk away from this if I can possibly do it,” Trebek said. “And I managed to do it. So, what’s the big deal?”
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com [11] and is used by permission.
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