An old “Jeopardy!” The contestant, and one of Alex Trebek’s final champions, died last week at age 24, the program announced in a tweet.
“The JEOPARDY family! Is heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brayden Smith. He was kind, funny and absolutely brilliant. Our deepest condolences go out to the Brayden family. He will be missed,” said the tweet.
According to his obituary, Smith was five times “Jeopardy!” champion who loved playing the saxophone and listening to musicians like Duke Ellington and the Beach Boys. He was praised on social media as “Alex’s Last Great Champion” and was looking forward to competing in the show’s Tournament of Champions.
Trebek died in November at the age of 80, after battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Smith, who graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2020, intended to study law and work for the federal government, according to his obituary. He loved to read about political science, philosophy, economics and history – topics that proved useful in his rise to the fame of trivialities.
“I am very grateful for everything, for all the opportunities I have had,” said Smith in a video the program posted on YouTube after Smith ended his streak of five consecutive wins. “I’m happy that … I was able to show what I was capable of.”
In the video, Smith praised Trebek for continuing to appear on the show, despite his poor health.
“Getting angry and going there every day and continuing to cheer up America and the world … it was really proof of how great he was,” said Smith.