Alex Trebek was dedicated to his work until the very last moment.
The star served as the host of “Jeopardy!” for more than 30 years, but he died of pancreatic cancer in November, at the age of 80.
As is typical of television, Trebek filmed several episodes of “Jeopardy!” in advance, leaving the program with content featuring Trebek in charge for a while after his death.
The final episodes of the show with Trebek will air this week before champion Ken Jennings takes on the role of interim host.
‘DANGER!’ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALEX TREBEK AS A ‘WARRIOR’ BEFORE DISPLAYING FINAL EPISODES
Before the final week of episodes starring Trebek, “Jeopardy!” executive producer Mike Richards appeared on “Today” and praised his late colleague.
The final episodes of ‘Jeopardy!’ Alex Trebek will air this week. (Photo: Santiago Felipe / Getty Images)
“He was an absolute warrior,” said Richards. “What he managed to do when he returned to the set to record the final episodes … was Herculean.”
The final episodes were recorded 11 days after Trebek underwent surgery and just 10 days before he died.
Richards said that during the recording, the star “was in enormous pain”, but ensured that the fans did not notice any of this.
“He is strong, he sounds great, he is funny and he was incredible,” said the executive.
ALEX TREBEK REMEMBERED BY ‘JEOPARDIA!’ SPEAKER JOHNNY GILBERT
It was also revealed that Richards advised Trebek not to film the episodes because he was not feeling well. The star, however, insisted.
“A week before we recorded these episodes, he was in the hospital – this man was unbelievable – he called me and said, ‘Mike, I’m going to be fine, I’ll be recording, I managed to eat Jell-o today,” recalled the producer. And I said, ‘Alex, this is great, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be ready to present five episodes of a game show’, which is a huge effort. “
“Don’t cancel, I’ll be there,” said Trebek to Richards.
Richards also revealed that Trebek offered a special message on the set that no one expected.
“He comes and makes an absolutely incredible speech about the difficult times we are in and the importance of us as a country, as a community, as humanity, uniting and helping each other,” he said.
Richards admitted that he and the team “had the chills” after hearing the star’s message.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
“There are specific moments in ‘Jeopardy!’ when you clap and there are times when you are quiet – usually in his monologue, he would go out, make a statement and then go to the categories, “explained the Hollywood executive.” There are not many people in the studio because of COVID and we all burst into applause. You don’t see it on camera, but as he goes into the categories, he sees us starting to applaud and kind of looks at us [like] ‘What are you doing?’ and we were so moved that we had to applaud. “
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
No permanent successors were named, and although Richards explained that Trebek “mentioned a few names”, he basically “wanted to stay out of this” process.